Book Five: Energy
by Pathos315
Summary: A cold war is on between the The United Republic and the Fire Nation. Avatar Korra learns that a new event called Harmonic Trine will bring back Vaatu in three days. She has lost the power to close the portals. Relying on her friends, and a mysterious Avatar from the future, can she find another way to stop Vaatu's return?
1. Chapter One: Avatar Korra

The clock struck eight over the Avatar Aang Stupa in downtown Republic City. An elevated railcar drummed past, cutting a silhouette into the morning Sun. Long shadows scurried against abandoned apartment buildings and power lines mangled. Then, a great shadow passed over everything.

It was called Sky Castle Bravo: a floating airship as large as a mountain looming over Republic City. It was oblong and irregular, with many parapets and ramparts, like a potato-turnip. United Forces troops manned it, patrolled it, suffused it. Turrets stuck out like nails along its side, but their cool metal gleamed in the Sun. Smaller airships routinely rose up from the city carrying supplies and staff. At Sky Castle Bravo's apex, the façade — riddled with roaring upward facing turbines that kept the behemoth structure aloft day and night — lead into a testing facility like a crater, and, rising like a marble tower in the center, concealed in a cloudy thicket, stood a rocket; a spaceship intended for going to the Moon.

Commuters dressed in suits, of red, blue, brown, and green, read newspapers in one hand as their other hands grasped onto straps on the elevated train. Their bodies lurched left and right. The train's momentum as it went forward along the rails, possessed their bodies utterly. The rails were made decades before, during the roaring times of the United Council. A newspaper headline on a newspaper waxed futuristic on replace the aging system with a maglev.

One young man looked out onto the neighborhood through his black rim glasses — his mind darting between the four elements, magnets, classic movers, and scientific innovation. He balanced a brown paper bag filled with groceries on his knee: cabbages, potato-turnips, and a platypus-bear egg. On his wrist he had a watch, and bent into the strap were the words: For Shokku.

The front car's rear door opened as a passenger with a red headband went forward between straphangers.

Suddenly the car came unhinged and passengers stumbled over and the red headband was dropped; and the other cars receded away. With the train's emergency brakes overridden, an alarm sounded at the Police Force Headquarters. Interns and staffers scrambled to find the cause, and sifted through paper and readouts produced from a massive new machine that consisted of hoses and wires what seemed like whirling mover reels. It filled an adjacent warehouse.

"They call this thing a figurer." said one seated employee idly to another while deciphering the readout in his hands, "When they pitched it to us, the ad agency wanted to call this thing a _computer_."

"Now that's just silly." said the other over his shoulder, while placing his readout in a vacuum tube.

Not a minute later, Commissioner Mako put down his morning coffee in as measured a manner as he could. The read out flung out from a chute and slid along the surface of his desk, with hole punches indicating a proprietary police code. Scooping it from the stately desk, he read what it said and put it in a drawer, into an empty folder marked "Hijacking". Then, with his left hand he picked up the phone receiver to his face and bushy mustache.

"Zhu Li," directed Mako, "We have a Code H-R46."

Registering the aitch as 'Hijacking' and 'R46' to be the train line, Director of Police Force Operations, Zhu Li, said "Understood, sir." and hung up her receiver. Suddenly, sirens blared and cars painted in black with white hoods roared into the streets; and with all cars called the Police force was now on full alert.

With his right, he lifted up a glass casing and pressed a fresh red button on his desk. He then took a coffee swig, as another assistant entered carrying a freshly dry cleaned uniform intended for press conferences.

In a wide plane hangar shielded from the high altitude winds, a red light on the back of Korra's new gauntlets began to blink with a polite clicking noise. Korra lifted it up and looked at it quizzically.

"Well, looks like the new alert system works after all!" said Asami, examining the blinking light. But she paused, looked to Korra and to the Sky Castle Bravo hangar opening that hovered high above the city, and nodded.

"I have to go." said Korra firmly, looking back to Asami. Korra liked Asami's new hair: she wore it short, a single lock of hair curled on her forehead. —Business and sophistication. Korra thought.

"You've got this." said Asami, gripping Korra's shoulder. "Those gloves are a prototype for flight purposes, but I'm certain that I've worked out the bugs." Asami paused, and noted with unfortunate recall of a previous incident, "If they give you trouble, do try and pocket them so I don't have to start from scratch again."

"I'll try!" said Korra, with a laugh.

Korra bowed her head, and Asami put a helmet upon it with a tinted glass front to keep out the wind. Smiling through a glass screen, Korra adjusted her long braided ponytail, that went down to her belt, so that it could blow freely in the wind. Korra turned, got a running start to the hangar's lip, went to the edge, and dove.

"Good luck." said Asami to herself, her arms folded.

United Forces Soldiers were playing cards in rooms with porthole windows. Korra's shadow arched over Sky Castle Bravo's contours. Her long ponytail whipped like a flag in a gale. Sweeping her arms back in a modified blue paraglider suit, firebending from her hands, jet heat roared forth and rippled in the air; Avatar Korra descended.

§

The young man, Shokku, felt his heart pulsing in his neck.

"Excuse me ladies and gentleman!" shouted the combustion bender gruffly in sing-song, as the lone rail car whizzed past a crowded station. "May I have your attention please! If you listen to me, I will not blow up this train." he paused, and looked around at the straphangers who were varying degrees of terrified, annoyed, and unphased. The man walked up and down the aisle, and began to speak again. "I am a Combustion Bender. I am here to tell you that the Fire Nation is oppressing us! The Fire Nation does not think we matter! Fire Minister Zhoza is a tyrant!" he continued, pointing his finger proudly at the sky, "Fire Lord Izumi abdicated because Zhoza wants to take over the Fire Nation and create a New World Order! The White Lotus is _real_!"

"That doesn't even make sense." said Shokku to himself.

The combustion bender shot him a baleful glance.

Suddenly there was a loud thud on the roof. Shokku looked up. Then, there were a few loud clangs on the roof and then it burst open. Straphangers gasped in surprise and confusion as Korra dropped down from a hole she had metal bent and she jabbed an air bolt at the combustion bender, who ducked mid-sentence and grabbed Shokku's collar and yanked him up. Shokku stumbled to his feet. His glasses fell off. His grocery bag tore open. The platypus-bear egg splattered. The cabbage fell to the subway floor.

 _— my cabbages!_

The man's thick arms wrapped firmly around his neck and a finger pointed to his temple daring to firebend.

Shokku's heart sank into a bubbling blackness as his struggled to breathe and see.

Korra lowered her arms, and looked calmly to the combustion bender.

The combustion bender sucked his teeth.

Shokku through his foggy vision thought he saw Korra's legs moving ever so slowly.

A thin metal coil began to snake its way silently around the combustion bender's leg. He was unaware.

Then, many things happened at once. Korra suddenly swept her arms together in a chopping motion.

The combustion bender tensed, ready to strike Shokku, then winced. A metal coil culled from the subway floor yanked him to his knees.

Korra grabbed Shokku, who gasped. She pulled him out from the combustion bender's grip.

Shokku was tossed to the ground into the smeared platypus bear yoke. He coughed.

Korra touched a point in the man's chest with her left thumb. With her right, she reached for a metal strap hanging, twisted it into a makeshift handcuff, and tossed it onto the man's arms. _Clink. Thump._ She metal bent his hands to the floor.

Shokku looked up to see Avatar Korra — his hero and his icon and his inspiration.

With the man arched backwards and immobilized, Korra put her thumb to the man's forehead.

 _She's going to energybend him._ Shokku marveled to himself.

But then Korra paused. Everyone's body was rocking back and forth to the train speeding along the tracks, passing an empty station.

"I'm not feeling anything!" she shouted, confused.

"What do you mean?!" shouted an irate straphanger, who was now almost an hour late for work.

Korra lifted her right thumb that was on the man's combustion bending tattoo, which was now smudged. Korra's gauntleted finger had paint on it.

"You're not even a bender?!" shouted Korra, her eyebrows furrowing.

"No." said the hostage taker meekly.

"WHAT?!" Korra bellowed.

Korra growled, but then the train lurched forward, its wheels screeching, and it quickly slowed down to a complete stop. The train car was quiet for a moment.

"They—" Shokku coughed, "They must have cut power to the third rail!" Shokku finally said, shaking yoke from his fingers. Sirens wailed as a ladder truck and a police car panoply approached.

§

The next hour involved Korra having to fend off an angry straphanger mob from tearing apart the harmless hostage-taker, Commissioner Mako talking to the press along with Avatar Korra, the man being led into a paddy-wagon, camera bulbs bursting in bright flashes, and the crowds ultimately resuming their set paths of daily living.

"Well, there's a first time for everything." said Mako, tilting his head up and putting a hand to his forehead.

"You're telling me!" said Korra, grimacing and gripping the air like two ripe melons. She turned to Mako and threw her gauntleted hands up. "How does something like that even happen?"

Mako, now holding his hands behind his back and raising his brow said, "The suspect appears to have been a Fire Nation emigree. And news reports do suggest that Fire Minister Zhoza has been discriminating against combustion benders and sun warriors." Mako paused and furrowed to the side, seemingly distracted by a spec of dust. "Why this suspect would choose a Republic City target is beyond me. Perhaps to garner media attention?"

Korra patted Mako's shoulder and grinned.

"Mako." Korra said, "You make a great police chief. I can see why Lin Beifong recommended you as her replacement."

Mako looked surprised, and then smiled too. But then noticed smoke rising from where her gauntlets met his uniform.

"Um, Korra —"

"Yikes! Sorry!" said Korra yanking her arms back like from a hot stove.

"Hum, I just had this dry cleaned." said Mako in disappointment, noticing where his uniform had been singed.

Korra took off the gauntlets and put them along her belt. But they started to beep once again.

"How many things do those gauntlets do?" Mako asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he look down to the gauntlet on Korra's belt. He paused, "And can I have a pair?"

"What?" said Korra to herself, distracted and feeling the gauntlet. Then she closed her eyes and sighed. "Oh, now I remember. I'm supposed to meet with Bolin —"

"—You mean the President?"

"— Yeah! for a mover night! And then I'm going to the Spirit World. Iroh asked me to meet him for tea, he came to me in a vision last night. He said it was important, but he had one more thing to attend to before I arrived. I haven't seen him since before we fought the Red Lotus. It's been eleven years."

"Eleven years." said Mako.

Sky Castle Bravo's underside loomed over the city like a thundercloud.

§

Shokku put his broken glasses on his face. He looked to see Korra standing outside that train station, with Commissioner Mako there too.

He looked for a long time.

Then he turned away, looked back again, and finally headed off to a coffee shop.

He passed Avatar Aang Stupa again, in its afternoon time shade. He often noted, its four sides that corresponding with the four elements, and the dome's peak, representing the energy element that bound them all together.

Wing Beifong looked out the coffee shop's window, a cup in his hands.

Shokku sat down across from Wing, looking up to him through his own broken glasses.

Wing's eyes widened and he put out his hand to Shokku's face.

Shokku put his hands out to his side to explain.

Wing Beifong kissed Shokku on the lips. He bent the glasses fixed.

They went home together, as they had for the past five years. The sun set behind the mountains painted pink and blue.

That night, Shokku was wide awake. Wing snored in bed, the sheets tucked under his head. Shokku stared out the window. He saw the spirit portal's light rising as a pillar in the distance amidst the urban forest. Sky Castle Bravo, to where he would commute to work tomorrow, boded behind it.

The yellow light that streamed through the windows consumed him.


	2. Chapter Two: Harmonic Trine

The light from the portal suffused Korra as she entered the ring. She had walked there from the Presidential Palace, her mind fresh with images from _Nuktuk: Revenge of the Automaton_ , which she, Bolin, the First Lady Opal, and several other invitees watched together.

The mover revolved around Nuktuk's defense of Republic City against a robot army, which Kuvira's Colossus led. It was anthropomorphized into a robot seeking to marry the voluptuous Ginger. The climactic battle featured Nuktuk rallying a final aerial assault against the colossal Robot, as it clung to the top of the Future Industries Building and held Ginger hostage! With a final earthbending shot from an airplane, the automaton clutched its metal heart and plummeted to the city below. Nuktuk, triumphant, delivered the final line: _Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty that killed the giant metal robot!_

Bolin was elected President of the United Republic.

In the years following Kuvira's attack on the city, the downtown had been rebuilt. The area immediately around the portal, however, up to three blocks from the crater perimeter, was abandoned and forgotten. The concrete storefronts were forever bathed in a pale yellow glow. This place was now known as The Footsteps to the Spirit World; or just The Footsteps. Development was constitutionally banned here. Trees and other flora had taken over, and now occupied the ring.

Those who had evacuated the city spread into the city's surrounding areas. President Raiko authorized the creation of suburbs and settlements that extended to the River Beinan to the East. This river connected the Northernmost Ocean to the East and West Lakes. A treaty had been signed, as a reparation from the Earth Empire, that all lands west of that river and up to the Northernmost Ocean now belonged to the United Republic.

So it was that small towns emerged as far as the eye could see. They had houses with picket fences, and dirt roads. A new Satomobile with a rounded chrome hood would rev out of a town on a wide flat plain. It would leave a dust plume in its wake as sunlight bounced off the hood — quivering with heat lines. Kids would earthbend clay in the yard when they came home from school. Fathers would waterbend on their yards to keep them lush. Hammering noises abounded, growth was everywhere. Flags of the United Republic fluttered with cheer in every town square with a flagpole.

During Korra's visit to see Bolin, after Nuktuk: Revenge of the Automaton had ended, she talked at length to the Chief Historian of the United Republic. Korra noted that he had once served as a council page to Tarrlok seventeen years before. The Historian corrected his now dense glasses and recounted those passed years. A part of his relaying was known to Korra. The full of it was lost in the midst of things as they had happened. Korra's eyes were turned to the Historian in curiosity as he relayed how President Raiko's first six-year term had ended three years after Kuvira's attack on Republic City. He had won re-election in a landslide.

His second term featured political upheavals abroad and the installation of the Sky Castles. Fire Lord Izumi, anticipating a trend towards democracy in all nations, established the Fire Nation Parliament. She relegated the Royal Family's powers accordingly to the Parliament and its chief officer, the Fire Minister. The first Fire Minister, a man named Kazai, served a two year term without incident. He then stepped down. But then came the reign of Fire Minister Zhoza, who provoked controversy abroad and was divisive at home, all for maintaining office's sake. During the last four years of Raiko's office, Zhoza was ascendant. Raiko nearly recalled the ambassador to the Fire Nation multiple times over provocative actions. However, he hesitated at the prospect of losing Fire Nation support to the United Forces.

Meanwhile, in the Earth States – the provincial federation established through King Wu – an Earth Assembly was established consisting of one delegate from each province. This Earth Assembly was the lower house of government. Meanwhile, a Security Council containing representatives from the seven most militarily proficient provinces served as the upper house. Zaofu, a prominent member, always abstained from voting in the Security Council, as per that province's own laws and Suyin Beifong's wishes. A Chancellor was popularly elected to represent the Earth States to the other nations, and to chair the Security Council. In the event of vacancies, the Earth Assembly chose a Chancellor to fill the remainder of the term. Once the constitution for this new structure was approved, King Wu abdicated and the Earth Kingdom became the Earth States.

The first five years counting from its formation were ineffectual. The Earth States nearly descended into civil war over: hyperinflation, debts owed as reparations to the United Forces and the United Republic, inequality among the provinces, high turnover of Chancellors, and insufficient compensation for injustices endured under the Earth Empire.

The crisis ended when Wu, having relocated to Whaletail Island, reluctantly agreed to return as Chancellor to fill yet another vacancy. President Raiko agreed to waive the reparations if this occurred, as it did, although to do so required approval from the Fire Nation, and both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. Eska, Desna, and Tonraq were all in agreement with waiving the reparations. While Fire Lord Izumi was open to doing so, the power now belonged to Fire Minister Zhoza. Zhoza refused — and threatened to withdraw Fire Nation support to the United Forces if the reparations were waived.

Raiko and the other leaders discussed the matter over many conferences, and from these meetings a compromise was made. The reparations would be reduced to a symbolic one gold piece. In turn, Chancellor Wu would award Zhoza the Kyoshi Medal of Freedom, a worldwide ban on spirit vine energy development — put into place following Kuvira's attack — would be lifted. Finally, the Earth States, the United Republic, and the Fire Nation, would each construct their own Sky Castles. Sky Castles were massive aerial fortifications that, until then, were at technological and political theory's heart. Their purpose was to defend against massive robot and spirit attacks, while also stimulating each nations' economies. Another term that the parties agreed to — "As you are well aware", chimed the Librarian — was a clause saying that an attack on the Avatar constituted an attack on all other nations.

These developments had, indeed, dismayed Korra when they occurred. She had been off in the Farthest Ocean — a wide ocean consisting of few tropical islands. It stretched from the eastern shore of the Earth States to the western shore of the Fire Nation. Admiral Bumi, Tenzin's brother, had toured these oceans many years before with the United Forces. The people there were almost exclusively non-benders. An earthquake had devastated the princely island city of Khn Pkti in that area. She was assisting with the recovery, removing rubble and healing the sick with waterbending, when the airbender Kai arrived suddenly with the treaty's news.

Korra sat deep in thought. She at last told Kai to relay her disappointment, but that the people in Khn Pkti still needed her help.

Thus construction on the three Sky Castles commenced. Sky Castle Bravo was built over Republic City, Sky Castle Foxtrot over the Fire Nation Capital, and Sky Castle Echo over Ba Sing Se. Each had zones of control that extended many leagues out within their borders, within which they could fly, beyond which would constitute an act of War upon all other nations.

Korra felt cool about their existence, wondering to Asami some nights – while both in their kitchen — that their true purpose was for ill. Asami reassured her that they would be great for both the economy and sciences. After all, Republic City alone was two-nothing when it came to giant spirit-and-or-robot attacks.

Term-limited after two terms that totaled twelve years, President Raiko could not run for re-election. Bolin was elected President of the United Republic. He was entering the fifth year of his first time, and was debating serving a second.

Thereupon the Historian ended his tale, put his coat over his shoulders, bid Korra good night, and began to hobble home.

§

Korra walked forward into the spirit portal, and stepped into the light. She experienced a moments rapture, as though she had awoken from the most incredible nap of her entire life. Then she was in a trough that continued onward like a road.

"What happened here?" said Korra, calmly. "This is not where this portal leads." she looked left and right. The straight trough; deeply cloven and narrow; cut like a trowel through the bare grassy hills in the open. The spirit dirt exposed below, which seemed brown, was not so, but warped with all colors like oil in a pool. "I have no memory of this place." said Korra.

Nevertheless she recalled to mind Iroh. She lifted, and felt the strange ground beneath her feet passing away from them like water. She passed tendril vines dangling in a thicket, and tall trees with golden leaves, the warping of space slowed, and before her was Iroh's house in the Spirit World.

"Hello, Korra." said Iroh, standing in front of the door with a radiant smile and his arms spread wide. Korra noticed that his body was more luminous than she recalled, almost transparent at times, as though it was made of subtler stuff than forms were normally made.

Korra hugged Iroh all the same. "It's wonderful to see you!" she said.

"The jasmine tea is ready." said Iroh, taking hold of Korra. "You have exquisite tastes, it is my favorite too!"

Iroh emerged from the kitchen some time later with two simple white cups and a red tea kettle.

"The cups used to be part of a set. These cups used to match with the Teapot of Raava." Iroh said, and then chuckled to himself as he poured the tea. "I'm sure I've told you, Aang's granddaughter came here fourteen years ago and took it to recover Raava's light!"

"Really? I don't remember you telling me that." said Korra, holding her cup. "I had a hunch, but I never knew for sure."

"Ah, yes." said Iroh. He took a seat and rested his hands on his stomach.

The grass around them swayed in a warm breeze.

"Onto other business, my dear Korra." said Iroh, "I meant to contact you sooner, but I was delayed due to some travels. I have pressing news to tell you. But first, do savor your tea."

"I finished it already, Iroh."

"That quickly? But you didn't even taste it." said Iroh with a hint of confusion.

Korra shrank in her seat a little.

"Very well." said Iroh, "As you know, Harmonic Convergence happens every ten thousand years, and it is when the two spirit portals meet. It is in sync with the alignment of the planets." Iroh paused, "As you also know, a third portal was accidentally made in the heart of Republic City."

"You could say that." said Korra. "But it seems to be on the move here."

"Yes, this is true." said Iroh, grimly. "You see, with the two portals, a perfect planetary alignment was necessary to compel the two to combine." Iroh raised his hand so the pinky was facing Korra — a straight line. "But with a third portal, the planets need only be configured thus." he formed a triangle with his two hands. "In any combination." he added, rotating the triangle shape his hands made left and right.

"So the planetary alignments necessary, so to speak, are more frequent." Korra's eyes widened, "And that means —"

"Yes! More chances for the Spirit of Darkness to return. The Spirit of Darkness that now lives in you, Korra!" said Iroh with rising intensity, pointing to Korra's heart. "Instead of every ten thousand years, from what I have gathered, such occurrences will be every thirty three years: a Harmonic Trine."

A cold draught passed through the air.

"Have you figured out a way to stop this?" asked Korra.

"What do you discern to be the right way to stop this?" responded Iroh, his voice now more settled.

"I would close the Republic City Portal." answered Korra. "It was completely unintentional." Iroh nodded in agreement, but the image flashed in Korra's mind of Asami and her standing before it eleven years before, and her shoulders drooped. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"The question you ask is bound up in my recent travels. When I first learnt of the new spirit portal, I only heard the spirits' joy. It was only one week ago that the Phoenix Spirit arrived — the spirit you gathered all those years ago when we first met — with a message bearing dire news that the portal had moved from its place and was making a direct line towards the Tree of Time.

"Without delay, I asked the Phoenix Spirit to take me to Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library. There, I met with Wan Shi Tong. His plumage was ruffled and dark as ever, and his attitudes towards an interloper such as myself — mixed. But when I relayed the news, he was disturbed. He bid me to use his books in haste."

"But I thought Wan Shi Tong was in allegiance to Unalaq and Vaatu?" said Korra. "Jinora said that Wan Shi Tong had betrayed her to her capture all those years ago."

"Wan Shi Tong holds allegiance to balance." Iroh explained. "He holds no preference for Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter — but that they occur in that order. He felt that the closing of the Spirit Portals was an attempt to keep, as it were, Spring lasting forever — to keep Vaatu locked away, forever.

"Unalaq seduced him thus, offering to let Vaatu free and keep the portals open — Unalaq also used his dark water bending as an added means of persuasion — but when word reached him afterwards, that Unalaq had merged with Vaatu to form the Dark Avatar for the purpose of destroying Raava, it is said that Wan Shi Tong felt utterly betrayed and fell silent for years. I think that the matter of the third spirit portal, to Wan Shi Tong, is a direct result of his allowing Unalaq to obtain his prize. It is his role to play to end these echoes of doom however he can.

"Nevertheless, on the subject of the third portal, I found little — aside from learning, without knowing their relevance at that time, that planetary trines in our solar system occur every thirty three years. I had the privilege of visiting the Greater Astrology Room: similar to the ones Avatar Aang and Chief Sokka used to determine the Day of Black Sun — but accounting for all the planets in our solar system. The spirit foxes would turn the dusty cranks in the orange and purple light, and when a trine occurred a light would go out from the array. The spirit foxes informed me that such a light from the machine was unprecedented, and that it normally would omit such a light when the date of a Harmonic Convergence was logged into the machine. The date of the next Trine, they said, is in three days."

"Three days until Harmonic Trine?" interrupted Korra.

"Yes." said Iroh, "This information spurred my research onward, but soon I lost hope for an answer. I expressed my dismay aloud, when I saw a ghost appear — we of the Spirit World can perceive them. He said he had once been a Professor by the name of Zei, of a University whose name he had forgotten. 'There is a spirit in the West,' he said, 'In the gnarled core of a tree. His name is Koh.' and then he departed. To where? I do not know.

"I knew the name of Koh. He had taken my son's face when I was a man." Iroh paused, "Long had that pained me. Long had I seen that image playing out. Long had I relived the sight of Koh laughing through my son's mouth. But death arises from birth, and fear arises from an undisciplined mind. So with this information, the Phoenix Spirit and I journeyed to find Koh.

"I walked down a long flight, past a faceless monkey chattering at me. I took one step after the other. In the darkness, Koh was there alright, but he hid his face. I neutrally inquired into his condition. He hissed in reply, unable to form words. I did not see in the dark, but I deduced that Koh's face had been crushed. By what awful means, I could not tell.

"I took pity on the creature, and showing no facial expression, I put my hand on Koh's carapace. He curled, and scrawled with his legs what characters he could upon the wall. Then, with a sad whimper, he faded before my eyes, no longer to be Koh.

"All he wrote were these glyphs: _Three portals. Convergence. Tree of Time. Vaatu._ "

" _Three portals. Convergence. Tree of Time. Vaatu._ " said Korra. "Vaatu will emerge every thirty three years because of more frequent Harmonic Convergences?" she guessed, and then paused, "But where does the Tree of Time fit into all of this?"

"I do not know." said Iroh. "But when I received these last words of Koh, my fears were confirmed and I knew then that I had to contact you." finished Iroh. "Koh, while wretched and terrible, was an ancient and respected spirit. His murder portends darker things yet, and I suspect that his murder and these events are linked. As you concluded, you must close the Republic City portal." resolved Iroh. "It is the only way. Otherwise, every generation will know Vaatu."

Korra stood from the table.

"Alright." Korra said at last. "I'll go."

Korra turned to the portal, recalling it to mind, she began to feel the ground shift beneath her feet.

But then, a thunderbolt.

Korra felt a fist grab her heart. A white hot heat erupted from her neck. She opened her mouth to scream. Rich black smoke spewed out like ink. She fell to the ground like a stone.

"Korra!" bellowed Iroh, sprinting towards her several feet away.

Korra lay still, her eyes transfixed wide in terror. Her long braid curled like a pool on the grass.


	3. Chapter Three: Blockage

The bathtub was filled with salt water. Research papers from work were in the room next door. Shokku's reflection rippled in the basin. He rose his arms over the water, and shutting his eyes he quieted his mind. He felt a cool sensation extend to his right hand, and a warm sensation extend to his left hand. These were the negative and positive energies. He pushed them out, feeling static energy build within his stomach.

There, he had learned, was the precise moment to let the positive and negative energies come crashing together. This was understood as the technique that Fire Lord Zuko had shared with the United Republic of Nations almost half a century before: as a way to resolve a coal mining crisis that sparked tensions between the United Republic and the Earth Kingdom during the beginning of Queen Hou-Ting's reign. The electricity, firebender generated, would produce limitless power for a city long craving for it.

But Shokku recalled his recent research at Sky Castle Bravo. Writing scientific formulae on a black chalkboard, they had deduced that all matter contained an electrical charge: positive and negative.

They had also deduced elsewhere, when he had first begun his work, that a common scientific law governed light, electricity, and magnetism.

Shokku pushed the positive and negative energies further. His stomach began to clench and release in waves. His head hair stood straight up like a broom. Sweat beaded on his brow, he controlled his breathing. He abided in his body, and pushed the cores of positive and negative energies into his hands. As his concentration grew, the pain lessened. A spoon on the bathroom sink rattled towards Shokku.

The contractions ceased. With one last push, the water began to ripple. It bowed back to the far wall.

Shokku gasped in surprise as the positive and the negative energies came crashing together. Before he caught it, the lightning and thunderous din blinded Shokku and sent him crashing to the floor, and the spoon clanged on the bathroom tile. The light bulb blew and the mirror shattered. He lay there, panting in the dark, surprised. He pushed himself up, his ears ringing, looking at the bathroom. Groping for a rubber glove, he put it on his hand and used it to drain the charged tub. The pipes crinkled with electricity as the water escaped.

After cleaning up what he could, he could do nothing about the cracked mirror, he hurried to the cabinet. Pulling out a notepad, he scribbled a note explaining to Wing why the bathroom was in disarray. Then, putting on a light coat, he went out for a walk around Avatar Aang Stupa. Neighbors on the street looked at Shokku, bewildered at his unkempt spiky hair, worried about the cannon-like blast they had heard.

§

Korra titled her head towards Iroh. She was in a bed. The Phoenix Spirit craned its head in through a window.

"It's as I feared." said Iroh. "The darkness is building."

Korra propped herself up in the bed. She could still feel the tension in her neck and chest.

"I've endured worse." said Korra, with a groan as she adjusted herself into a more comfortable pose. "How long was I out?"

"Not long, about four hours in your time." concurred Iroh.

The Phoenix Spirit bowed its head and looked towards Iroh.

Iroh nodded. "If you are ready, the Phoenix Spirit has agreed to take you to the Spirit Portal."

Korra reached her hand out from the bed to pet the Phoenix's beak. Suddenly, the Phoenix's eyes widened and it lurched its head back, rattling ceramic cups on the counter.

Korra pulled off the sheets and stood upright. "What's wrong?"

The Phoenix Spirit looked at Korra, and the words came to her in her own thoughts.

 _A great evil dwells in you. It is more imminent than I expected. I cannot take you to your destination, lest I turn dark._

"I am sorry." said Korra to the Phoenix, and she turned to Iroh.

Iroh nodded grimly. "Then you must go on foot."

The towering light from the Spirit Portal appeared now in the East. Korra deduced that it was nearing Xai Bau's Grove.

"How long will it take on foot?" asked Korra.

"In your condition" said Iroh, "I cannot tell. If you remember your resolve, and your mind stays fixed on happy days, I am certain the road will rise to meet you." Iroh folded his hands over his stomach. The Phoenix Spirit craned its neck over the roof, and lesser spirits apparated onto the roof to show their support.

"You've got this, Korra!" said the leaf-eared spirit that had guided Korra to Toph Beifong.

"If you cannot close the portal." said Iroh. "Perhaps consulting the Tree of Time will be of use."

Korra bowed. She turned and took her first steps among the hills, never to come back to Iroh's place as Korra.

§

Shokku sat on a park bench across from Avatar Aang Stupa. The walls were laced with geometric patterns and ornamentation. This wall he faced, that the cool midday Sun shaded, was blue: for the water element. The wall to its left was green, for earth; the next wall in that series was red, for fire; and then a muted brown, for the Air Nomads. Its round dome was crowned in a single pinnacle. Here was said to lay some of the ashes of Avatar Aang.

Three Airbender nomads walked passed. Shokku heard them discuss their meditation practice.

Looking up to the wide doorway, his mind drifted to what he had accomplished. _I have successfully bent magnetic fields for the first time. It could be used to bend water._ He thought to himself. _But how to hone this?_

And looking up, he noted as he had before the stupa's four sides. As they go higher, they reach a common point. The patterns were less ornate near the top, and faded to a common stone-like color.

Shokku's eyes widened. Turning his attention towards his thinking, he realized that the very words he thought were not solid things inherently existing. They were made up of intention, their narrative qualities, and then they faded.

—Subtler. understood Shokku.

The stupa's pinnacle gleamed in the Sun.

§

The water was to Korra's knees. It extended in every direction she could see, reflecting nothing but the blue sky and her. She took each step one by one as they occurred.

"I should contact Asami." said Korra to herself, as she trudged through the endless mere. "I may be a few days, hopefully less than two. I would want her to know where I am."

Closing her eyes, she put her attention to Asami. At first Asami's image whirled in memory, crisp and clear. The intention arose in her: _I am in the Spirit World. I will be home in no more than three days. Stay away from the portal._

But as the thoughts progressed, they suddenly fell out of synch and her breathing stumbled and Asami was receding from her into an inky blackness, and before her arose a red rhombus with a black dot into nothing, and she had to run and run far away and fast because she was running out of time.

Korra gasped, and suddenly found herself crouched on a rocky outcrop overlooking Xai Bau's Grove. A sharp tendril of throbbing pain reached from her neck to her heart. She rose, straight and tall, feet soaked.

She looked to the grove below where the spirit portal now shone. Its path continuing onward for many miles to the horizon and a mountain range. The portal had cloven a mountain peak in two.

§

"Shokku, what happened in the bathroom exactly?" asked Wing, holding the note, as Shokku entered the apartment.

"Didn't you read it?" said Shokku, as he first hung up his light coat next to a mover poster of Jo Dee Garland in _The Wizard of Zaofu_ , and then made for the bathroom. "It's work related."

"Your handwriting is terrible." Wing pulled him in for a kiss on the lips. "What're you working on now?" asked Wing.

"Come and see!" said Shokku, gesturing towards the bathroom.

Wing looked over Shokku's shoulder.

Shokku looked to the tub, motioning his hand over it. "I'm trying to use firebending to induce a magnetic field to bend water."

"Woah! No way!" said Wing. "You can bend magnets?!" He looked sideways towards the mirror cracks and taking a tiny step and flexing his fingers, he bent the earth in the mirror so that it was restored to its proper form.

"It's a variation of lightning bending." explained Shokku, "Electricity and magnetism operate under the same laws: as an electromagnetic field. When you separate the positive and negative energies to produce lightning, the imbalance produces a charge and the two energies must come crashing together. Magnet bending, if you want to call it that, and from my experience, occurs when the positive and negative energies are far apart from one another so as to not immediately influence one another. There is an imbalance, but the only way the energy can go is outside rather than towards the opposite charge. Thus, magnetism."

"You're such a dork. I love it." Wing stood on Shokku's toes. They laced their fingers together. They smiled happily at each other for a moment. Wing spotted the spoon that had fallen on the floor. "Why don't you bend that spoon?" said Wing. "You'd just have to feel the earth that's latent in the metal, right?"

Shokku looked at the spoon and picked it up, noticing his reversed reflection, and sighed. "I can't. To magnetbend at this time requires intense concentration over a large area — for now anyway. And it wouldn't be bending the earth within the spoon, but tapping into its magnetic field, which is entirely different. But that's why I'm trying to practice on the tub: water has what's known as a dipole, a subtle positive charge. I think I could use my bending to influence it. I had some success, but I need to experiment further."

"And that's why you couldn't use it two days ago, when the hijacker had you in his grip." said Wing.

"I didn't even know this form of firebending was practical!" said Shokku. "Or what use it would serve. Besides," he added, "I'm a total coward."

"You'd be surprised what use it could serve." explained Wing, "My grandma discovered metalbending while some bounty hunters had her trapped in a steel box. Now some eighty years later, who could imagine life without metalbending?" Wing put his hand on Shokku's shoulder. "This is some Avatar stuff right here, I'm so proud of you."

Shokku felt a strange energy come over him as he held the spoon, and as Wing had his hand on his shoulder. But Shokku said nothing.

"Are you ok?" asked Wing.

Shokku snapped out of it and asked Wing to continue, but Wing had forgotten what he was saying.

"Hey, my mom's coming to visit tonight." said Wing, brushing Shokku's right arm.

"You told me." said Shokku.

"Just making sure." said Wing with a shrug as we turned to the door. "Maybe you can show her what you've been doing?"

Shokku looked at Wing. "I — uh. I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Come on! Why not?" said Wing. "My mom is crazy over your family's work on magnets, she'd be thrilled to see a demonstration. And besides, you're just bending." Wing stood back and counted off his fingers. "My mom's seen combustion benders, lavabenders. Varrick, yes the Iknik Blackstone Varrick, did extensive work with magnets when he was staying with my mom in Zaofu. Spirits, she and I even helped teach Avatar Korra metalbending! I'm sure that magnetbending is fine!"

"Maybe, maybe, you're right." said Shokku, holding Wing's hands his his. "Very well, but I need to prepare."

As Wing closed the door, an orange light thread divided the room as the Sun set.

§

The trees in Xai Bau's Grove were bathed in an orange glow. Korra rest her hand against a boulder and looked over the red stream. There was just one mile yet to go between her and the portal. Weary from her day's long journey on foot, she hobbled forward.

There was a rushing noise of leaves as if two lush branches were being used to sweep.

Korra stopped.

At once a black form leaped down from the trees, and roared like a tigerdillo. It was answered, to Korra's dread, out beyond the trees, by a host of dark spirits whose paths suddenly converged with hers.

Korra raised her arms into the air and circled them in great arcs. The trees ignited like torches. The inferno moved among the spirits in a flame wall. Korra stepped backwards, keeping the barrier strong between herself and them. She inched towards the portal in the distance.

Suddenly her vision cut out: she stopped firebending. She felt a dark spirit land a blow into her stomach. It was deadly cold. Dark smoke was billowing from her mouth and nose. A hard wind erupted from her ears. She gasped for air; her eyes bulged. Her heart was boiling like lava. The Dark spirits wanted to reach for something in her heart.

— _No._

A light appeared in her abyssal mind. Korra felt herself rising in the air, endowed with glorious power. Then she heard and saw no more.

§

Suyin Beifong arrived for a dinner of mashed potato-turnips, and a platypus bear egg omelet. "This is what's called a peasant's dish" said Suyin, eyeing the yellow fluff between her chopsticks, "But it's just so good!"

"We have some tea ready, too." said Wing, in the kitchen.

"Where's Shokku?" asked Suyin, "It's not like him to miss dinner." she went to take a sip of water.

"He's putting together a magnetism presentation." said Wing, washing the dishes. He looked out the window and noted the gray sky. "Huh, it looks like it's going to rain soon — anyway, I knew you'd be delighted to see it. He was very excited about it himself. He says he just learned how to bend water."

Suyin coughed.

"Are you alright, mom?" said Wing, over the roar of a Satomobile revving past.

"Wrong pipe." said Suyin. She cleared your throat. "I beg your pardon? We are talking about Shokku the _Firebender_ , right?"

"Well, yeah." said Wing. "But he learned how to bend magnetic fields, right?"

"Right, Wing, you told me that over the phone today before I left the hotel even though I'm sure that's a United Republic state secret, and you could land yourself in jail just for telling me that." The kitchen fell silent.

"Well." Wing seemed apologetic after a beat, but continued. "Despite that — you've read his parent's papers, and they discovered that water has a slight magnetic charge to it. Right?"

Suyin looked at Wing and blinked. "Why didn't I catch onto that?"

Shokku opened the bathroom door. The presentation was ready, he said, but he insisted that they look on from afar.

§

"We are the Avatar!" declared Avatar Korra. She arose over Xai Bau's Grove on a twister column, with her arms outstretched and her hands turned to the clouds above. A hurricane covered the forest now enveloped in flames. Light erupted from her being and left all else in shadow. "I bid you go, Servants of Vaatu! We have business here and shall not be denied!"

The Dark Spirits looked to the Avatar and were silenced. Delighting in her power, their darkness lifted and they reverted back to their normal forms. Then they left the grove, bewildered, as Avatar Korra bent the sky to rain. The flames died down. As the Avatar returned to the ground, the spirit world around her became soft and sad. Mist rose from the charred branches.

Behind her was the Spirit Portal: she reached out her wet hand. The portal's light beam shuddered.

§

After talking at length about the theory behind what he was doing, and taking a note from Suyin crossing her arms and drumming her fingers that it was time to go on with the presentation, Shokku stood over the water. He took a deep breath and stretched out his arms. Rain started to hit the garbage cans outside in the alley.

He felt the cool in his right hand, the warmth in his left. He pushed them further than intended. He noted the contractions in his stomach intensifying.

Here, he noted subtler. And he evaluated his mind's qualities as he was bending. The magnetic energy was flowing from his fingertips. The water was being pushed against the tiled wall.

— Subtler. His body felt like it was sand-made, and his awareness filled his body like water between each grain.

The water in the tub rose, it rose from the basin. The water was in the air. — Subtler. Shokku, a firebender, was waterbending; and he felt a slight happiness.

It was at that moment, as Suyin gasped in amazement, that a red rhombus with a black dot at its core filled every corner of his mind.

The water erupted into plasma flames. Lightning arced across the entire apartment.

Wing faltered, then his legs gave way under him, he slumped forward and hit the living room floor with a thud. A jolt snapped through his body.

Suyin crouched down, quick as the lightning, and reached out to her son.

The bathroom tiles rippled off the grout. A draught blew through the apartment. Shokku emerged from the bathroom. He grasped the door jamb: his chest exposed, hair standing up like a broom, eyes were wide with fear, body rippling like static with pure energy.

Suyin turned Wing over and saw the scorch mark over his heart. Wing was still breathing in tiny, labored puffs.

"This is bad!" Suyin cried, "Shokku! Call Help!"

Shokku could only see blackness, and the red rhombus with a black dot into nothingness.

§

Avatar Korra leaned into the Spirit Portal and projected her spirit energy into it. A loud din erupted from the hollow, and the light began to waver back and forth cutting a pattern into the clouds as – at last – it began to wane, when it happened.

A shadowy figure appeared in the light and was coming towards her.

"Asami?!" gasped Korra.

Korra snapped out of the Avatar State. As she did, a great purple band like a scythe erupted from her heart. It went into the portal.

Asami's form emerged for just a moment, stunned, her left arm rippling with a purple-black aura. She hung there in the beam. But then she receded into the column and vanished from sight.


	4. Chapter Four: Becomings, Part One

_This chapter is dedicated to Tumblr's makanidotdot. The majority of content in this chapter are either transcriptions of, or inspired by, her impeccable work. In my eyes, she is a veritable crown jewel of the Legend of Korra fandom. If you haven't seen her content yet, you're missing out._

* * *

The desert sands quavered with raw heat and the sky was a balmy gray. A young sandbender with dirt brown hair played on a tsungi horn in the midday sun; a melody long and slow. He was resting his head on the scales of his pet pangolion, who in turn rested his head in a joshua tree's shade.

"Maitreya!" called his mom from the adobe hovel. "Can you come here, please? There are some visitors here to see you."

"Coming, mom!" called the boy named Maitreya. He turned to the pangolion, "I wonder who they could be, what do you think, Lagi?"

Lagi, the pangolion, turned its large anteater like head towards Maitreya in reply, blinked quizzically with its round black eyes, and flicked its long, tubular tongue.

"Come on, let's go." said the boy. He stood up and ran inside the adobe hovel. The pangolion walked towards the window to see.

§

Asami was nowhere to be found that night, after Korra had passed back into Republic City through the portal. She stayed up until after midnight, looking, bending aside the rain curtains, but finally she gave up and fell asleep in their manor. It was five in the morning, just before dawn, when she woke up. The was no sign of Asami beside her; the white pillow lay fluffy and full.

Korra reached for the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed the extension for Commissioner Mako at the Republic City Police Department.

"Commissioner Mako here." he said through a great yawp of a yawn.

"It's Korra. I need to file a missing person's report."

Mako paused, but Korra could hear the hollow sound of him reaching for a pen in a cup. "Do you have their name?"

Korra sighed, "Asami Sato."

Mako fell silent. "Korra." he said at last. "I'm so sorry."

They continued their conversation until it ended in a soft series of 'alrights'. Korra turned off the lamp, put on her firebending gauntlets — although she did not trust herself to bend unless in dire circumstances, for fear it would backfire as it had at Xai Bau's Grove — and left the quiet manor to walk down the long driveway in the sad morning fog.

§

At the apartment, or what was left of it as the street facing wall was gone, and scorch marks like lightning lined the walls and floor, police surrounded the perimeter and cordoned off the premises. The phone rang, to which an officer answered and was asked to provide a proprietary code. The officer said nothing, but noted it to his commanding officer for further investigation.

When Shokku awoke, he found himself deep in an alleyway covered in a sliver of morning light. It had only been one day before that he was putting on his khakis and tie to prepare for his daily grind. Ground he was indeed now — and the thought came suddenly to him: 'Where is Wing'?

With a heave, he stood up and looked about him. At once he grabbed his glasses, the ones that Wing had fixed the day before after the train incident. The world seemed to him stark and contrasted, as though in a heatwave. Again, Shokku reeled, his fear rose and a panic struck his heart. He couldn't have, he thought. "No, that was just a bad dream." he said to himself. Wiping the sweat and street dirt from his brow, and feeling the holes in his shirt, he checked his breathing. He grew concentrated. Then, Shokku stepped out into the empty street before the morning throng, and he looked towards the Spirit Portal. He looked at it as if he were far away from the All.

And now he felt the command to walk towards the light. Trusting completely that it would lead him to his beloved, he obliged.

§

It had taken exactly five minutes for Suyin Beifong to rip aside the apartment wall, bend a rockbed from the street asphalt, lay Wing upon it, hurtle it over cars and trucks through the city streets like an ambulance, and get him to the Republic City Hospital emergency room. He was sedated for the time being, as waterbenders coated the wound with healing energy.

Suyin rested her ears following a loud, angry phone call from Lin Beifong — _I'm glad you got him there in time, BUT YOU DID WHAT?_ — She roused herself from a nap in a chair as Bataar Sr. and Wei entered the visitor's lounge.

Bataar Sr. started, "We got here as fast as we —"

"Is Wing alright?" interrupted Wei.

"He is in serious condition." said Suyin grimly, standing up from the chair. "The bolt went through his heart. I was able to get him here in time, and I've called everyone. Not that Lin is happy over the many city ordinances I had to break, but that's not important." she waved her hand dismissively for a moment. "Two surgeons from our Medical Corps in Zaofu are on the way. I've also asked our security detail to set a guard up. I don't trust Shokku, who knows what he's capable of."

"He did this to our boy?" said Bataar Sr., mortified.

"Yes." said Suyin. "He was just frozen the entire time I prepared Wing and bent him over here. Maybe it was shock, maybe he's snapped; to be completely honest, I don't know what to do with him. All I know is that we need to get Wing stabilized, and then we're going back to Zaofu. Our son will be safe there."

"Oh, Su!" said Bataar Sr., looking at Suyin for hope of better news, but she remained silent. They hugged, as sad company do.

Wei looked through the hospital glass to see the waterbenders doing their work on his twin brother.

§

Korra was in Downtown Republic City that rush hour morning. The crowds carried briefcases, wore fedoras, or long secretarial skirts.

I have to go to the portal, she thought. Her Avatar instincts informed her thus: the fate of the portals, and of Asami, were now utterly bound. If she failed to stop Harmonic Trine, then she would also fail to find Asami.

— _Three portals. Convergence. Tree of Time. Vaatu._

Korra caught sight of a young man with black rim glasses. He was dressed in a white button up and khakis. His hair was like Mako's had been many years before. When she saw him, she knew she had seem him before. He receded into the crowd, Korra followed.

He was walking towards Cabbage Street and Omashu Avenue. Korra felt ten steps behind him one moment, but as her pace quickened the young man's distance increased. The figure seemed at once nervous and pensive. He neither looked back nor turned towards Korra, but simply receded away into the public throng.

The two of them walked over the Republic City Metro tracks: the Bumi Line. Then Korra lost him in the burgeoning fog of The Footsteps. She looked left, then right, and then resolved that she had lost him completely. Before long, Korra entered a hushed area of deserted streets lined with abandoned buildings long overgrown with vines. The Spirit Portal was to her left, glowing yellow through the dense fog.

Korra realized that it was as though her hearing had cut out: the entire place had gone quiet. But she felt that now she was the one being followed. A puff of black smoke flared from her nostrils as she turned around — but only the grey silhouettes of an abandoned city met her eyes through the fog.

§

It had stopped raining in the Spirit World. Indeed, the entire location had changed. There was no rapture as she crossed into the place where the Spirit and Material worlds met. The smell of mold, the steamy air, was unbearable, but she realized it was simply _her_ — limited to perception and the shadow within _her_.

Before her stood the Tree of Time, gnarled and feeble at this distance. The earthen ridges like jagged teeth, rather than circling just the two portals, bowed out and made strange lines and streams in the ground to compensate this new third portal coming towards them; like two family members trying to welcome an ill received and unexpected guest. The soil reminded Korra of the clashing icebergs and glaciers she had long seen on the South Pole. She stepped onto the shifting ground cautiously, and with a similar mentality that – at any moment – her feet could give way and a cold abyss would greet her. She breathed slowly, steadily, and tranquilized her revulsion to the rancid odors as best she could.

The arena seemed to go out for many miles. The wind, once stuffy and hot, now grew cold and cut her like a scythe, reaping a deathly harvest. Onward yet, Korra climbed and bent, grasping sharp rocks like thorns upon the so-called ground. The effort made her sweat, the heat in her body became dog days of summer and the coolness became the cold snaps of winter — no spring or autumn was to be found. She grew dizzy and very tired, but focused all her strength on reaching the Tree. If she rest her eyes now, there was no telling to where she might be swept.

What felt like that afternoon, she at last reached the tree's hollow. Exhausted and heavy, she put aside the formality of assuming a meditative pose. She flung herself forward and fell asleep before she hit the ground. But as she lay there, she was unable to achieve the somberness of sleep despite being asleep. After a while, she heard the unwinding of metal winches and ziplines. The sound was mechanical, and Korra listened as best as she could. It seemed to be coming again and again from the dark, and inside her own head. She passed from one darkness into another. Then an image blurry erupted forward and became crisp, and Korra became a witness only.

§

Tenzin, beardless and nearly twenty, sat in a chair, reading a scroll on his desk titled A History of Bending. He was reading a segment on a long historical debate as to whether it was the Lion Turtles that had granted the power to bend the elements to benders, or if it had been the Air Bison, the Dragons, the Badgermoles, and the Moon, that had taught humans the power to bend the elements: an ability all humans possessed. He was about to reach the conclusive compromise, when plaster erupted from the wall and a metal grabbling hook sank into it.

Tenzin gasped, dismayed at the damage done to the wall, and heard the winding of a winch. Looking to the window, and with a thud, he saw Lin Beifong, scarless and with black hair, smiling through it.

"Lin!" said Tenzin, "You just RUINED the side of the hous–!"

He was interrupted with a kiss on the lips from Lin. Tenzin was surprised, but stepped back, cleared his throat, and then said in his poised ways, "Well, I hope you can fix that; and congratulations on being brought onto the city police force."

Lin blushed and fell forward. She lost her balance and fell face first onto the floor.

The scene changed. They were now in a room on Air Temple Island. Lin looked to the adjacent wall as Katara bent water over a deep scar on her face. Tears began to well in Lin's eyes.

"Sweetheart, I'm not hurting you am I?" asked Katara.

"No, it's just... so embarrassing! Getting hit by my own gear! It'll be a miracle if the other officers still respect me."

"Lin," said Tenzin. A tuft of scruff had now grown on his chin. "I'm sure that's not entirely true. You're extremely respected, of course they'll understa—

"PSH!" interjected Kya. "You don't have to tell them anything! Have some fun with them!"

"Ooh! Yeah!" said Bumi, sporting long sideburns. "Tell 'em you tracked a mob boss back to his hideout but he had a GIANT TIGER MONKEY waiting for you — which you killed with your bare hands, but not before it took a piece of you with it!"

"Tell them you had to save your sweet, fragile, boyfriend from a hoard of badgermoles!" cooed Kya.

Lin smiled.

"Hah! She's smiling!" boasted Kya to Bumi, "We win."

Tenzin's face glowed a bright red. "Those are the most inane—" he scoffed loudly, "That doesn't even make any sense! Why are you two even in here?! You're bothering Lin and distracting Mom!"

Bumi guffawed. "Look at his angry bald head! Like someone drew an arrow on a tomato!"

The room at Air Temple Island dissolved before the argument could continue. The scene reappeared at a Republic City apartment: the Beifong Residence. Now Lin was walking away from a younger Toph Beifong, but Toph had grabbed Lin's left arm.

Toph looked straight ahead. "Lin, we could have handled that ourselves." she said.

Lin turned around, and slipped from Toph's grip. She had a bandage on her face's right side. "She was driving for the Triad!" shouted Lin, "What was I supposed to do?!"

"She's an idiotic teenager, not a criminal." said Toph softly.

"She was a criminal to whoever she helped steal from!"

"Please. The possessions were immediately returned, nobody got hurt."

"And what if somebody HAD gotten hurt." said Lin, eyeing Toph intently. "Would you STILL have torn up that report?"

"You know what Lin," Toph put her arm out to the side as though to say 'what gives'. "Let's arrest Su. What happens next? Have you even thought for two seconds about that? Do you even care? A couple of months or years in jail? At the very least a trial and a criminal record? How does that POSSIBLY help Su? Or me?" She clenched her fists and stomped her foot at Lin. "What does that accomplish besides slapping another gold star on your record?"

"This isn't about —" Lin scoffed. "Su can't just do whatever she wants! I'm trying to protect innocent people! You know? OUR JOB?!"

"What about protecting your sister? That's our job too."

"Mom, you can't just make exceptions for certain people."

Toph tightened her fists and became enraged. "I– will– ALWAYS– make exceptions for my family!" she declared. She leered at Lin as best as she could and spoke in a low voice. "Spirits Lin, at least Su knows what she did wrong."

Lin's mouth dropped open. "How – how could you say that?!"

"I WILL NOT LOCK UP MY DAUGHTER!" cried Toph. But then she smiled and folded her arms. "Well, if you really have a problem with that, why don't you arrest me, Lin?" she put her arms out wide. "Abuse of power? You saw me tear up that report. I'll even confess."

Lin lowered her arms and just looked at her mother without speaking.

"What's that?" said Toph, leaning in towards Lin — cupping her ears as though to say 'Sounds like you're scared, Boulder!' with her body. "No?"

Lin tensed and stood tall, in rage. "FINE!" she declared at last. "You win!" she burst into tears and bellowed before she slammed the door to her room, "Sorry for doing NOTHING WRONG!"

And the scene changed again. For a brief moment, Korra saw a young woman standing next to a lanky young man that reminded her of a cinnamon roll. The young man carried a bundle of long scrolls. They were looking over a wide green plain set against tall mountains ever capped with white snow on their peaks. But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. The anger from the previous scene returned. It intensified, and Korra felt very hot. Suddenly, Korra's vision was on Air Temple Island again. They were outside.

"Come on, Lin." said a demure and more bearded Tenzin. "You had to have had some idea. I mean we hardly even see each other anymore."

"Yeah okay, admittedly we had some points of contention." stated Lin Beifong, grasping at the air. "But did you ever think of bringing this up any other time? Maybe discuss our relationship like adults instead of coasting along until someone came along to run off with?" She turned defiant and hunched. "Though –" she quipped, "Assuming you'd be interested in doing anything adult was obviously a gross miscalculation."

Tenzin raised his finger to make a counterpoint. But it was a young woman, an air acolyte, who stepped forward. Korra recognized her as a young Pema.

"Lin," she said, "He still cares about you, it's a difficult thing to do."

Lin grinned menacingly and put her fists on her hips. "Oh, but you helped him past that obstacle, hm? By sharing your wealth of experience with him, I'm sure."

"I knew he wasn't happy." said Pema, "Not like he should be."

Lin pointed her thumb at her heart and shouted at Pema. "I've known him my whole life! DECADES longer than you have! Do you seriously think you know him better than I do?"

Pema was pensive and poised on the matter. "I think," she said, "the fact you've known him for that long, and not known that he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life going on dates, really says something."

The wind had blown through the stone exterior. Lin clenched her fists, and peered in wrath at Pema's mellow eyes.

"What?" hissed Lin.

Korra became aware of a voice behind her, coming from a window. "Are those girls actually fighting over Tenzin?" asked Bumi's voice.

"I told you they don't filter the water properly here." said Kya's voice.

"Now, Pema." said Tenzin, out on the field.

Lin twisted like a spring and now bore her full rage at her ex-boyfriend.

"TENZIN!" snarled Lin. "YOU SAID WE WERE GOOD!"

As Lin approached Tenzin to shove him, something very odd happened. The whole island was covered with a static fog. Each point was rapidly cycling from red, to green, to blue. Korra could see nothing for a moment. It cleared, yet the images continued on as they had before.

"You're not even listening to him now!" shouted Pema to Lin.

Lin bent her winch around Pema's wrist and yanked her as Lin walked towards the shore.

"Lin, what are you doing?!" ordered Tenzin.

"Are you arresting me?!" cried Pema.

"I'm taking her in for questioning!"

An earthen barrier erupted between Lin and Pema, and Tenzin.

"This is just silly, just talk to me! LIN!" shouted Tenzin.

The ground was jagged from the earthbending. Pema tripped and fell face first into the dirt. She was dragged only by half a foot before Tenzin unleashed an airbending gale right at Lin.

"STOP THIS!" He bellowed through the column of air that knocked aside the earth-bent wall.

Lin glowered at Tenzin, and then recoiled her gear. "Fine." she growled. Tears welled in her eyes. She knocked Tenzin aside. She made for the shore. She let out a baleful cry. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She bent chunks of earth from the ground. They hurtled towards Republic City's coastline.

"Augh! Spirits!" cursed Tenzin, rubbing his arm where Lin had shoved him.

Pema came to her feet and looked at Tenzin.

"Are you hurt? I'm sorry about that." said Tenzin.

"Oh no." said Pema, "I'm fine."

Tenzin looked over his shoulder to see Lin some distance away on the beach. She bend an earthen shelf over herself so as to stoop and sob. That day suddenly passed by, and when evening gave way to night, Katara came out to the earthen shelf and bend in to see Lin still crying.

"Lin?" asked Katara quietly. Her hand was on the outside of the shelf, and she peered under it as though she were speaking through a crack in the door.

Lin sniffed and looked to Katara, her face could have been undried watercolors dribbling from the wall.

Katara walked under the earthen shelf and sat on her knees besides Lin, putting her arm on Lin's shoulder. "I want you to know you will always be a part of this family if you want to be." she said.

Lin went in for the hug. As she did, she sobbed more deeply than ever. "I'm s-sorry about the yard!" she said through her tears.

"It's ok." said Katara. She smiled. "I yelled at him and hit him with a newspaper when I found out."

Lin hiccuped and wiped her nose. She looked to Katara and smiled, "Thank you."

Out in the periphery, Korra saw the years pass by. Tenzin's beard grew more full. He and Pema doted over a baby girl in their arms. Then they passed from sight.

§

The scene was now many miles away, on an iron petal in Zaofu; or what would later be known as Zaofu. Only a single petal set against the mountains was almost finished. Korra, witnessing all this, recognized it as the Beifong Estate at Zaofu. Three other petals were being build at key points on the green grass. The ground in the middle was being leveled and cleared for construction to come. It was the young woman and the young man from before — Suyin and Bataar. The sun was setting.

"This is a lovely evening, Ms. Beifong." said Bataar.

Suyin smiled, and then leaned in. "Let's get married." she said, curtly.

Bataar's glasses slipped past his nose, but he retrieved them before they fell. "What?" he said, although Suyin went in for the kiss before he could say more.

"Well, why not?" asked Suyin, grasping his arms.

"Why-wh-well" stammered Bataar. "We've only been on two dates!" he pointed out, lifting up two fingers. "Including this one!" he added.

"Ohh, so what?" said Suyin dismissively. "We've been working on this project together for six months and you've been in love with me for five —"

"WHAT?!"

"How much longer do we need?" asked Lin. She leaned in and smiled to Bataar. "Bataar," she said, "I've travelled all over the world the past few years, and you're the sweetest, smartest guy I've met. Working with you on this — it's been fantastic! I don't think I could have done all this with anyone else! You said it yourself, my ideas were challenging —"

"'Insane.'"

"Right! But you did it! You're making them happen! Imagine what else we could build here? And if we finish we won't have to go home, you'll just be home! Doesn't that sound nice?"

"I mean," began Bataar, "Of course it does! It sounds — I mean — you're a-amazing — I'm —uh"

"You're really quite handsome too you know." added Suyin, curling a lock of his hair. Bataar cheeks and ears turned bright red.

"Shouldn't I meet your family or something?!" interjected Bataar.

"Mm. No." said Suyin, looking to the side.

"Wait what? What does that mean?" pleaded Bataar in an anxious tone.

"Bataar." said Suyin at last, "I want you to be my family. You and whoever else comes along."

Bataar gulped and pushed back his hair as he considered the weight of the decision he was about to make.

"Ms. Beifong?" he said.

"Yes?"

"This is — this is an awfully long way to go for another discount."

As they both laughed, the strange thing happened again more intensely than before. The vision became coated in a thick fog. In her eyes, Korra saw points flickering from red, to green, to blue. The scene returned to Air Temple Island. Lin sat down in front of a mirror, as Suyin did her hair. They had aged considerably, but gracefully; it was the evening before Varrick and Zhu Li's wedding. A wall mounted clock clicked to announce every second.

"Ah, don't mess with it." said Su. After a time and letting the hair curlers do their work, she removed them and then stood back. "There, you're ready. What do you think?"

"S'not bad I guess." said Lin, examining her hair in the mirror.

"You flatter me!"

"Alright." said Lin, "Am I allowed to finish getting ready now?"

Suyin noticed the scar in the mirror, and then looked down with regret.

"Hey, I'm sorry."

"What?! What happened?" said Lin with alarm.

Suyin reached out and touched the scar on Lin's face with her thumb. "For that." she said.

"Oh — no that — it's fine!" reassured Lin. "Helps scare the rookies!"

Suyin hugged Lin. Lin cautiously put her arms on Suyin's shoulders, and then looked to the side and muttered under her breath. "Jerk."

"Now, let's get you dressed up!" said Suyin, hurrying towards the wardrobe. As she opened it, a puff of dust came out. She cleared it aside. "Lin — what — where are all your clothes?"

Lin looked over Suyin's shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"What do you wear when you're not working."

"Pajamas?" asked Lin. "They're right there." she pointed to a neatly folded pair in a drawer.

"No —" said Suyin, crossing her arms, her voice suggesting a hint of worry. "What do you wear out? What do you wear on dates?"

"Court dates?"

Suyin looked at her sister with wide eyed shock, with slowly turned into dismay and confusion.

"I wear my uniform." said Lin.

Suyin buried her face into her hands.

The clock on the wall began to click with great speed, and it was suddenly late at night. Yellow light from the Spirit Portal came in through the room. Korra remembered this night. She looked out the window, out to the steps, and there she was — there was Asami. But as Korra so strongly willed the vision to go there, it went somewhere else. She was pushed away, and was on the far side of the island. There, Wei Beifong was jumping from stone to stone on a cobblestone wall as though it were a game. Wing walked alongside his left along a road. He was deep in thought.

"Wei." said Wing, "We're pals, right?"

"Hm?" said Wei, "Well, yeah! Of course!" he jumped down from the cobblestone wall. "What would make it otherwise?"

"Well —" said Wing. He paused for a moment, and then tried to change the subject. "Up for another game of power disc? We could use these cobblestones as the disks and those trees as —"

"Wing, it's almost midnight. What's eating you?" asked Wei. "I know that something's on your mind."

"Alright." said Wing. "I think — I might like guys. As in — like, like."

Wei stopped and listened.

"I think I'm gay." said Wing, as though to confirm it to himself.

Wei crossed his arms, as though he might disapprove. Then he hugged Wing tight.

"I'm so proud of you." said Wei. "I've always had a hunch."

"You did?" asked Wing.

"Well, there was that one time —"

Wing pulled away and laughed nervously and said that he got the idea. But then he looked down deep in thought. "What am I going to tell Mom?"

"Why would Mom care?" asked Wei, point blank. Wing looked to Wei. "She was part of a traveling circus for years. Our chef used to be a pirate, and – even though he ended up betraying our family – Aiwei's sense of fashion was really on point."

"But that's doesn't mean that—"

"Wing." said Wei, stopping Wing, "The point I'm trying to make is that Mom loves us no matter what happens." he hugged his brother again. "I love you no matter what happens. And I know we all will."

Wing smiled as he reciprocated his brother's hug.

Korra smiled too, overwhelmed with empathetic joy. Her heart sang with celebration. The Republic City Portal came into full view. It was within reach. Flying swiftly towards it, she saw the yellow column, straight and tall, rising into the sky. Korra passed beyond all thought of darkness, as she and Asami went hand in hand into a world beyond. She entered the portal again.

§

— _Red. Green. Blue._ — _Red. Green. Blue._

The colored rhythms slowed. They filled every corner of her mind. First red, then green, then blue. Korra through the dark saw one more vision begin to form. It was of two men. But before she could see more, seeing itself ended abruptly, or everything turned to a constant black. Then a light came in from behind her, or whatever behind her was. She turned towards the light.

Before her now, was a young man. His skin was bronzed, his hair was an unkempt dirt brown. The young man, whom Korra deduced from his sun-worn clothes was a sandbender, looked to Korra. His left eye was brown, his right eye; a ghostly gray. The right pupil stood out as a black dot.

"Who are you?" said Korra.

"I am you." replied the man.

Korra was silent. Then he spoke again.

"My name is Maitreya." said the young sandbender. "And I am the Avatar to come."


	5. Chapter Five: Becomings, Part Two

On the heatwave's third day in the Si Wong Desert, a rusty Satomobile with round fenders kicked up dust as it passed the ruined hull of Sky Castle Echo I. Sky Castle Echo I was like a rusted aircraft carrier. It had large propellers on each side. The side towards the old speedster made it seem like the vessel was just mothballed. The far side, however, was completely gone. The wound's edges were molten and rusted.

The speedster came to an adobe hovel on the outskirts of Misty Palms Oasis. There was a lone joshua tree behind it.

A woman with gray hair streaks and a white babushka surveyed the house and stepped out of the old speedster, assisted by two guards. Sand and sky melded together in a bubbling beige. The four crossed onto the front porch and knocked. A shoaled woman opened the door and examined them, and they were invited inside for tea.

"Stand watch." bid the woman.

"Yes, Your Grace." said the guards.

"His name is Maitreya." said the boy's mother, after the boy sat down.

"What a wonderful name!" said the woman with the one arm and the headscarf.

Lagi, the Pangolion, looked through the window. Its bushy mane filled the frame. Maitreya sat on a stool in the kitchen. His legs dangled down and failed to reach the floor.

"Surely, there must be a mistake?" asked Maitreya's mom as she set down a tray for tea. "Maitreya has just turned ten. The new Avatar must have been found. Why is a representative from the White Lotus here, now?

The woman had a slender but distinguished face. The babushka draping over her head radiated a sophistication seldom seen deep in the Si Wong Desert.

"I was with Avatar Korra when she transitioned." said the woman. She set down her teacup with a soft clink. "She requested that ten years pass before her successor was found. She wanted the next Avatar to have time to develop their own identity." the woman's gaze looked down.

Maitreya looked up to her. She was reaching into her backpack with her one arm.

"Could you help me open this?" she asked to Maitreya's mother. The mother obliged, holding the bag's lip open. The woman pulled out a wooden box with the White Lotus flower embedded on the cover. She pulled the cover back and showed Maitreya the interior.

"Young man." said the woman holding out the box with her one left hand. "Does this look familiar to you?"

In the box, on a velvet pillow, was a necklace. The insignia in its heart had two markings. The bottom half were waves of water. The top half Maitreya recognized as the logo for Future Industries.

His eyes widened. "My necklace." he said.

The woman's eyes grew damp. She huffed as she bent down on one knee. The mother stood back, putting her hands to her mouth in surprise.

"It is an honor to serve you, Avatar Maitreya."

§

"I have to go, buddy." said Maitreya, patting Lagi on the head back by the joshua tree.

Lagi blinked slowly. Seeming to understand, Lagi let out a low, pitiful groan.

"I'm going to miss you. I'll come back for you." He sighed, picked himself up, and walked away from the joshua tree.

Maitreya had boarded the front passenger seat and slammed the rusty door. The woman snapped on her goggles. She worked the gears as though they were an extension of herself. The guard sitting to the right rear door looked over his shoulder and surveyed the endless desert. The heat rose in waves. The other guard wiped sweat from his brow.

The pangolion started mewing frantically. He began to trot over from the joshua tree and towards the car.

The woman drove slowly at first and then picked up speed.

Maitreya looked over his shoulder one last time. Lagi was galloping towards the car. Maitreya felt a tingling in his face, and a tightening in his throat.

Maitreya's mother looked on, in the porch's shade, as her son passed beyond her sight in a dust column.

Lagi stopped chasing the car. He let out a final desperate call, repeated it three times, and then slowly returned to the hovel.

The speedster's rusted chrome hubcaps spun forward. Every scratch and dink rose and fell with great speed into a mirage. And as the wheels spinned, Time unfurled, and the next thing Maitreya knew he was nineteen years old and stirring from a nap.

"Hey dingus," said Bato, his best friend, in a space suit. "We're in lunar orbit now."

§

The Lunar Shuttle had flown from Sky Castle Echo II over Ba Sing Se, to The White Lotus Space Station, in geosynchronous orbit with the Fire Union Colony of Khn Pkti. Maitreya had transferred ships at The White Lotus Space Station, there he receiving a briefing from Fire Union and Earth States scientists. The Lunar Base had uncovered something of extraterrestrial make. The spiritual readouts, especially of the past three days, surpassed anything seen since Kuvira's attack on Republic City fifty years before, and what declassified government documents referred to as The Echo Incident — of which the scientists there fell silent and said nothing further. Maitreya was to go to the dig site near the Base, and investigate the matter.

Bato had travelled with him. The two had met when Maitreya trained under the Northern Water Tribe Chieftain Eska, and her lesser co-Chieftain Desna. Eska had grown rotund and more brash. Miraculously, Maitreya survived training with her. This both confused and made mildly satisfied her Highness.

"I just threw an iceberg at you and yet you are still standing." she would say coldly, as the two trained out in the northern ice flows. "Explain yourself quickly, student."

Desna was the pair's meeker, and he begrudgingly taught Maitreya how to heal wounds. Bato, Captain of the Guard, was a partner in his labors through all of this. The two expressed their friendship with regular insults.

As Maitreya waited for the transfer shuttle to arrive, he looked out the porthole windows to the pale blue pearl that was Earth below, and the endless void enveloping it. He remembered what his airbending teacher, Jinora, had said to him a week before while in her study.

"Be careful." she said, "I've known you since you were very small. You have an adventurous streak, like my husband, Kai. Just remember that the ability to enter the Avatar State is insignificant next to the vast vacuum of space. If you take off your helmet or get fried in a solar flare, don't say that I didn't tell you to read your astronomy books!" And with that she had returned to reading her tomes and humming a tune.

Out on the far Eastern horizon, as the planet's night side passed over all things, the Fire Union city lights came into view. Maitreya knew that his girlfriend, Bahadura, was down there advocating for the rights of combustion benders like herself. She was marching in the streets, giving speeches, serving meals to the poor; even as night was falling. This was all despite ongoing and systemic oppression from the New Ozai Party, which had dominated Fire Union politics since the abdication of Fire Lord Izumi some ninety years before. The Combustion Rights Movement, of which Bahadura was now a figurehead, was shaking the party to its core.

Bato jokingly poked Maitreya in the ribs. The latter flinched out of memory.

§

A pilot named Jebediah flew the Lunar Shuttle second leg. It flew for two days. When the ship began a retrograde burn, to descend from a higher orbit, Maitreya felt a moment of consternation and confusion.

"What's wrong?" asked Bato.

Maitreya said nothing. He put his hand to his chin, thought about it, and then fell asleep in the process. His mind drifted, to dream of Lagi and the joshua tree, of the day his life utterly changed.

Three hours later, the shuttle descended onto the Lunar Base. From this altitude, having been stirred from his nap, Maitreya could see the lunar highlands. It was a landscape pockmarked with craters and basalt plains. He could see the lights from the Lunar base just off in the distance, not quite to the horizon, and coming closer.

"We make contact in five minutes." said Pilot Jebediah on the intercom. "Please check your seat harness."

Extending its landing struts and flaring its monopropellant, the Lunar Shuttle landed soundlessly. Stepping out from the ship and onto the metallic landing pad, where humanity had planted their first permanent base on the Moon, Maitreya looked up. He saw the Earth passing away from the Sun. Only the brightest stars could be seen in the dark void blasted with sunlight.

There, on the small blue pearl, all human endeavor had begun, was sustained, and would be destroyed.

Maitreya noted his breathing, made possible only through the slim oxygen tanks on his yellow space suit.

§

Titan One, as the scientists dubbed it, was like a black pawn piece with broad shoulders, excavated from the lunar soil. Large lamps illuminated it. Only the Lunar Base's scientists knew of it. It stood silently, as though to say from the galaxy's farthest corners: You are not alone.

"We first anticipated the presence of Titan One six years after the lunar landing and Harmonic Trine of 186." said the chief scientist from the Fire Union named Xhing escorting them to the dig site. " — that's by Common Reckoning, counting from the – uh – start of the Hundred Years War. It was first thought to be a land formation previously unnoticed, although Engineer-General, Bataar Jr., of Castle Bravo in the United Republic — formerly of the Earth Empire — noted strange spirit energy readings and ordered further study."

"Wait, the United Republic hired scientists from the Earth Empire?" asked Maitreya.

"Oh yes. It was a common occurrence actually. Zhoza, although I really do hate to say that name, recommended the release of scientists, to develop the first Sky Castles. They had, after all, created the Colossus that devastated Republic City in 174 — their talents were best used for the common good instead of, well, wasting away in prison for their crimes."

"Right." said Maitreya, uncomfortably.

"Moving on?" asked Bato.

"Yes. Right." said Xhing. "The first two satellites that were sent to the location went offline abruptly, but were quickly recognized as being due to mechanical errors — very curious."

They continued down to the Dig Site. Titan One's head rose up from the base and the three of them approached the floor. It was like an obsidian pawn piece, and it filled Maitreya with a sense of malaise and memory.

"Ah, here we are." said Xhing at last. "We suspect that it is constructed of a variety of the earth element. We are not entirely sure. The spiritual energy readings are increasing daily, and nearly off the charts. Curiously, according to our calculations, in two days there will be a Harmonic Trine — but we have our doubts that they are causally linked."

Maitreya was focusing his eyes on the black surface.

"What do you feel?" asked Bato.

"This is very old." said Maitreya, pervading the statue with his attention. "It feels, hollow. To be honest, something feels, off."

In the corner of the dig site, a scientist crouched over a plot of dirt. As he dusted, he brushed over something white and plastic seeming. Intrigued, he brushed further. The dust hung in space. The scientist gently pushed it aside as though moving his hand through deep water. Soon, a glass cover was seen. It was a helmet. "Sir!" said a scientist over the intercom. "Over here! I have found something!"

"What is it?" — beep

"It's a space suit of an older make. It looks like the kind they used on the first lunar landing!" — beep

"Spirits, you're right." — beep

The scientists began to hop over in their space suits. Maitreya was still standing at the obsidian rock face, absorbed in thought.

But they brushed further, in their intrigue they noticed a single hair on the inside of the helmet. And then they was eclipsed by terror and disgust. A scientist twisted away and tried his best to run, only to fall over into the moon rock.

Chief Scientist Xhing made the call. His face was pale and numb. "Contact President Zhu Li immediately." he said, his voice shaken and somber, pressing the button to the mass intercom. "This is now a crime scene." — beep

But as they departed slowly from the half buried suit their intercoms were overcome with a piercing electronic feedback shriek. It rose higher and higher in volume and pitch, approaching the very limits of human hearing. It ascended to a nearly inaudible whine.

Suddenly, Maitreya erupted from his trance and a glorious power erupted enveloped him. He entered the Avatar State.

"We must leave!" said Avatar Maitreya, alarmed, stepping back.

Bato was clutching his helmet, trying in vain to find a way to turn off his intercom.

But Avatar Maitreya bellowed through the electric snow, "Vaatu has come!"

A red laser burst from the helm striking Maitreya in the shoulder, and he whirled off the ground like a twister. He landed on it with a thud and bounced in the low gravity there. Bringing himself to a halt, Maitreya looked up. His eyes were glowing white through the space helmet glass with the power of Raava.

Titan One levitated slowly from the basin. The scientists scattered. The dig site lights exploded and went dark. Behind the black glass, a red eye flickered and quivered but illuminated nothing.

Maitreya raised himself quickly, and spreading his stance wide and hypnotically cycling his arms in ways foreign to earthbenders from the past, he bent the moon rock beneath him to form a surfboard; and surging forward he joined his fingers together like a gun and shot a firebending lazer beam from his fingers.

Having emerged from the dig site, standing on the brink with its flanged base, Titan One stood still for a moment. A thin line melted upon its facade. Two black ribbon-like whips for arms snapped from the shoulders. They lashed through the air and clove Maitreya's surfboard in two.

Maitreya drifted in the open like he was floating in the ocean.

Bato, running, looked up. The surfboard rubble started to fall down from above.

Maitreya twisted around and letting out jet flames from his hands. But the momentum was too much, and without enough gravity, the flames only globed around his hands. He was drifting away.

The Titan's red eye flared. The rocks glowed bright. They hurtled to the surface.

Bato put his arm over his helmet. The rocks came down.

Titan One, turned again to Maitreya with its red dot for an eye. Bato lay limp under the rocks. For that one moment, stretched out across time's far reaches, Maitreya looked at Bato's helmet with the cracked glass. The inner helmet light, fading to black, showed his face. His mouth was weakly half-open.

Maitreya landed. A numbness in his heart giving way to a grim determination. Maitreya set himself upright, and, reentering the Avatar State, he took his fists together like he were holding an axe. He swung them down hard.

A great chunk of the Titan's facade was walloped into a crater, its edges shattered like glass, as Maitreya swung again.

Its sides buckled, the thing twisted as though it were crumpled paper drifting sideways in the wind. Another blow, and the head itself viciously dented into a crescent. Grabbing into space and stepping forward, Maitreya yanked the vacuum like a rope and bent a hard cut across the Titan's core. Black glass burst out in various pops. The mauled torso sank forward. Its mid-section shattering. It was dislodged from the base.

A pause. The moon dust hung around them. Maitreya kept his guard. The Earth was waning behind the horizon.

Suddenly, the red eye flared again, and one hundred black legs like spiders descended. It glowed a dangerous violet, and unleashed jet of purple light that hurtled towards Maitreya.

As quickly as he could move, the young Avatar puts his arms to his side, widened his stance, and unleashed a blue energy blast from his chest that made a line through space and reciprocated the Titan's attack.

The two beams crashed. One side of the lunar highlands were bathed in a purple light — the other side, in blue light. A narrow thread connected the darkness and the light. But the purple beam was growing in power. Maitreya's feet were sinking deeper into the Moon. The sinkhole was growing, he was circled on three sides by moon rock growing in height as his energy beam bored him deeper into the hole.

For a split second, Maitreya heard a tink. Then the sustained blast's force tore a gash in Maitreya's oxygen tanks.

Maitreya took a weak gasp as air rushed out. The beam faded on both sides. And the Titan, with its many tendrils, closed the cave entrance, and began to ascend into the ether of space.

Titan One ascended towards Earth, like a comet-octopus, and it would know the entirety of Vaatu's wrath and ruin.

The young man in the Avatar State sank to his knees in the lunar cave, as the darkness fell and the world uncoupled around him. With a final grunt, he punched his fists together. He bent in what little oxygen that could be culled from within the surrounding rocks. He created a barrier between himself and the vacuum of Space, just as Avatar Aang had done two hundred and nineteen years before.

§

And now, Korra saw a young combustion bender on a hillside. It was the young woman, Bahadura, the Combustion Bender, the Activist, the Love of Maitreya. She was hidden away behind a rock pillar as the sky turned black and a fiery mass descended from the void to conquer Earth. She held a photograph in her hands, hoping her last memories would be one of kindness, before the end. The photos reminded her of Maitreya as he played the tsungi horn where she now wept, in happier times.

At this, the doomed world faded before the blow. Like a firebrand, a rocket ship atop Sky Castle Bravo appeared in Korra's mind and was stamped there. All other thoughts were made bereft. Her whole mind was bent now to that rocket, gleaming in the Sun whose time was running out. Her mind raced faster and faster, through the growing ensemble of colors — red, green, blue. And she felt, more urgently than any other task assigned before, to keep that rocket there — and to never let it fly.

Trusting completely that its fate was interwoven with that of ending of Harmonic Trine, of Finding Asami, and of Saving Maitreya, she consented to her task.

— _Red. Green. Blue._ — _Red. Green. Blue._

There was a rush, as though Korra were being pulled from water. She opened her eyes, and felt the dirt against her forehead. She took in the brown knots of the hollow; and how images like mist shrouds were fading away into nothing. The Leaf-Earred Spirit from looked in from the opening.

"Korra, are you alright?" the spirit asked.

Korra looked up to the spirit and smiled weakly, the spirit returned the gesture. But looking over its shoulder, Korra noticed a slight flash of light in the Republic City spirit portal.

§

A young man stepped through the Spirit Portal with hair like a broom. He looked upon the Spirit World. He saw a wraithlike abode with wisps of fire everywhere. For him, the Sun was exchanged for a black dot into nothing.

Shokku had come to the Spirit World.


	6. Chapter Six: In Terror and Hope

President Bolin stood at the Sky Castle Bravo bridge. He was delighted to see the Tui-5 Rocket, the Pride of the United Republic on full display. The Chief Engineer and Captain of Sky Castle Bravo, the one who years before had nearly ensured the country's conquest at the hands of the Earth Empire, accompanied him: Bataar Jr.

Then, a lieutenant whispered in Bataar Jr's ear. "Are you sure?" whispered Bataar Jr. With the lieutenant's reply, he nodded, and bid the President of the United Republic to accompany him to his office.

"What's going on?" asked the President, who walked around Bataar who was sitting at his desk quite still. His legs and fingers were crossed, reclining in his chair.

"Mr. President," said Bataar, Jr. "It seems that a high ranking employee of ours has attacked a member of my family."

"That's awful, I am so sorry —" Bolin looked sad, then quizzical. "But, wait, you're —"

"Before you say it, no, I never married Kuvira." Bataar was cross. He paused and then continued. "It's my brother, Wing, that was attacked. By his partner, Shokku Dian. He was in our electromagnetics division."

"I see." Bolin put his hands behind his back in thought as he looked out the office window onto the launch site outside.

"Shokku was responsible for an advanced firebending unit." Bataar explained. "It was exploring the extent of the electricity aspect of firebending. According to what Mother has told me — Shokku succeeded in using firebending to manipulate water."

Bolin blanched and shot an astonished look to Bataar.

"Shokku used firebending to waterbend." Bataar spoke slowly.

"This — no." said Bolin. "This is bad. Was he apprehended?"

"No, he is currently at large."

"Not for long." Bolin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then continued. "Do you have any idea what this could mean? If Shokku falls into the hands of the Fire Nation, given what we know, we could be talking a _complete_ shift in the balance of power as we know it."

"I understand, sir."

"I will contact my brother. If you need to take time to visit yours, I understand."

"My loyalty is to seeing this project through."

"In that case, stay here. And increase security." instructed Bolin. "Change any passcodes that can be changed. See to it that no one stays or leaves the Sky Castle without my authorization. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mr. President."

As President Bolin went to leave, he patted his hand on Bataar Jr's shoulder. "And Bataar. Good luck."

§

Exiting the Tree of Time, Korra found the ground to be stabler as she set out for the Republic City portal. The light spirit, sitting on her shoulder with its hands in its lap, was humming a tune.

"So." said Korra, "I feel like we've met plenty of times but I've never gotten your name."

"My name?" said the spirit. "I don't think I could tell you to be honest. Most spirit names are spoken outside the pitch of human hearing."

"Oh." said Korra, who looked down to the gauntlet hanging from her belt. An idea came to her. "Could I call you Mittens?"

"I love Mittens!" exclaimed the leaf eared light spirit, hereafter named Mittens. "That's a great nickname!"

"And what tune is that you're humming?" asked Korra.

"It's a song of protection." said the spirit innocently. "The Tree of Time has protective charms against dark energy. You were being chased by dark spirits earlier and Vaatu was trying to break free, which is never a good thing. I think you should be protected for a few more hours."

Korra looked far off in thought, and looked back to Mittens. Mittens was smiling and humming. "Stay close to me, alright?"

Suddenly there was a boom, and a dust cloud rose from the Spirit Portal.

§

When the phone rang, Mako was at his desk pouring coffee into a cup and whistling along to _On The Lam_ , which Mako felt was the perfect music for drinking coffee.

Mako wanted to ignore the phone for a change and have his midday coffee in peace. But he knew it had to be for him — he was the Police Commissioner after all.

"Commissioner Mako here." he said, leaning over the phone.

"Mako, how come you weren't at the movie screening last night?"

It was the President of the United Republic, Bolin. His brother.

"Uh — sir! I was just, working." Mako was confused. "Wait, movie screening?"

"Mako, you're too high strung." crooned Bolin. "Relax! This, coming from the guy who just received — what had to be — the worst news I could be getting right now."

"What happened?" Mako closed his eyes.

"There's a firebender at large who can use it to bend the other elements."

"You don't think I know this?" Mako was beside himself. "I keep tabs on this stuff. We've set up patrols all over the streets, it's a high profile case."

"As President, I am authorizing you to quarantine the city." said Bolin quite firmly.

"Wait, wait. Slow down." Mako, too, was calm. "I will go through with the order, but to clarify, completely cordon off the city for one person?"

"Mako, this is about national security." Bolin spoke in a measured tone. "Political matters are very sensitive right now. Can you imagine what would happen if the Fire Nation got hold of a firebender with the ability to bend multiple elements?"

Mako looked concerned. "I'll inform Zhu Li to execute the order." he paused. "And there's something else you should know."

"Tell me." Bolin sounded worried.

"Asami's gone missing. Korra reported it herself — she's trying to find her in the Spirit World. She also said that another Harmonic Convergence is coming."

Bolin was silent.

"Are you there?" asked Mako.

Bolin bowed his head and kneaded his forehead with his fingers. The yellow light from the spirit portal flared brightly for a moment in the distant fog.

§

Shokku staggered down from the light, but to Shokku it was a black pillar with a red aura. The soil beneath him quivered to claim him, but a force kept them at bay. His vision was of smoke, ash, wraith-like wisps. Everything was aflame with what he could not tell.

"I shouldn't have come here." Shokku looked devastated. "What a wretched place this is."

But fear for his partner overtook him. He stepped from the portal and cried out. "Wing!" cried Shokku into the rippling void. "Wing!"

"Hey, watch it!" hollered a meerkat spirit.

Shokku was filled with dread. The meerkat appeared as though through an x-ray: a ghoulish white.

"Stay back, whatever you are!" Shokku cried in fear.

"Whatever _I_ am? How _dare_ you!" shouted the meerkat pointing in accusation. "How dare you refer to me —"

But the spirit's words sounded like a crowd screaming in dread all at once. Before the spirit could finish his sentence, Shokku thrust his open hand out to defend himself. The magnetic force field's power tossed the meerkat spirit through the air, and kicked up a dust cloud where Shokku stood. It landed with a thud in the distance and was still.

The Phoenix Spirit descended, and Shokku's mouth quivered. The spirit appeared to him as some dragon skeleton, blanched white. As it beat its large wings, their rushing through the air sounded like subway wheels scraping and tree branches moaning. Having sensed a disturbance, more spirits popped into view. The more that came, the more was Shokku's terror.

"Korra, I have to hide." Mittens' mouth and eyes became like sad seeming crescent moons. "I'm scared. There's something terribly wrong about that man." Mittens shrunk in size and hid in her back pocket. Korra looked back up to Shokku in the distance.

Seeing a long hollow tube diving towards him, Shokku shot a firebolt at the wyvern spirit with brilliant plumage, the one who had informed Korra of why the Spirits would not defend Republic City during Kuvira's siege. The wyvern roared and faded away to avoid further harm.

The Phoenix spirit cried again, and Shokku covered his ears and screamed in pain. A crowd thick with spirits surrounded the portal and booed Shokku.

Two golem spirits came through the crowd and took a stomp towards the portal.

"Alright, you! That's enough!" bellowed one golem.

"You're going to the Fog of Lost Souls!" said the other.

As they reached out their arms, Shokku sensed despite his fear the magnetic energy dwelling in their claylike arms. More proficient at his skills than the night before, he jutted the positive and negative energies to his arms and let out a wave from his arms. Chip by chip, their stony facades aligned with positive and negative forces.

The two golems crashed together. Their stone facades shattered where they met. They groaned, shouted, and hobbled away; and the crowds gasped and booed and jeered again.

"Whatever demons you are, stand back!" shouted Shokku, mustering what little courage he had left. But when he went to speak again, his voice was muted. He shouted nothing, but mouthed: _I am looking for my partner!_

"Stop!" Avatar Korra looked stern.

"It's the Avatar!" a spirit cried in the crowd. But then the crowd fell silent, as the many spirits disapparated as quickly as they could.

Then Shokku saw her through the crowd. There was a woman's flickering silhouette with a long ponytail reaching below the waist. But set within it, Shokku saw a glorious white kite, with many patterns and marks. It oozed black drips from a diamond at its head, like sludgy tears.

Soon, it was just the two of them: Korra, and a stranger on the hill. Korra recognized him as the man with the black rim glasses from the morning before, whom she had tracked into the Footsteps of the Spirit World.

"I don't know who you are, but leave the spirits in peace." Korra said, "They have done nothing to —

Adrenaline pumping, commonsense receding, Shokku pushed his arms out to the side and Korra, punching the air, bent a rock from the ground and sent it flying towards Shokku. But Korra's gauntlets on her belt rose and pointed to Shokku as a magnetic force field went out. The rock exploded in a dust puff, as Korra jabbed out her fingers to zap Shokku. The lightning arced and landed to Shokku's side.

Shokku ducked low and with a sweeping kick swept a fire sheet through the air.

Korra clipped her arms in front of each other and, dispersing the flames, spun around and kicked forward a long water torrent to catch Shokku and subdue him.

More proficient at his skills than the night before, he jutted the positive and negative energies to his arms and caught the water as it flew.

A sinking dread ran through Korra as the water bubbled unnaturally in his hands like corn starch. As it was thrown back to her, she just barely caught it again, and it rose up into the air in a column.

Then, looking through the water, she thought for a brief moment that she saw Maitreya where Shokku stood.

The water fell and splashed in a cool spray. Korra covered her eyes. Upon opening them, as the water leached back into the streams, there was a bright flash at the Spirit Portal as Shokku disappeared.

Korra fell forward from the effort, sucked her teeth, and punched the ground with a grunt.

§

Korra was roused by an oncoming police van, as she stepped back from the street curb holding a Wanted poster.

"Isn't that the guy from before?" asked Mittens from behind Korra's ear.

"Seems like it." Korra was intrigued.

"What's that flashing?" asked Mittens, pointing to the gauntlets. Korra looked down curiously as a receipt curled out from the palm. Tearing it off the serrated edge, she read it to herself slowly.

 _Meet me at Republic City General Hospital. Talk to Suyin. Wing Beifong hurt. — Fire Ferret._

While first humored by Bolin's presidential codename, Korra then had an uncomfortable feeling well up within her as she ambled along with the pedestrian traffic over the crosswalk. Some pedestrians kept a wide berth as they were roused from their lunchtime hustle to see the Avatar walking casually down the street.

Republic City General Hospital was a veritable concrete cube in Downtown Republic City. It had long horizontal windows, and upon first glance Korra developed the heartfelt wish that the architect responsible was fired on the spot.

"Mother's name?" asked the male receptionist with a thick mustache at Republic City General Hospital Front Desk. He needed to confirm her identification: hospital policy.

"Toph Beifong." said Suyin.

"Father's name?" said the receptionist.

A Zaofu security guard stepped forward, "Ma'am, Avatar Korra wishes to speak with you!"

"Well I'll be. How did she know I was here? And what timing! I just got back from my walk." said Suyin. "Send her in."

The receptionist twitched his mustache and folded his hands, the rest of the paperwork would have to wait if it was the Avatar: hospital policy.

"Su, it's good to see you!" said Korra as the two embraced and then walked down the medical hallway to a private room.

"It's been too long." said Su, admiring Korra's long braided ponytail to herself. "I haven't been in Republic City for the past five years." she looked down and said softly, "I'm sorry that we aren't meeting in happier circumstances."

They went into the room, and Korra closed the door behind her. The furniture was a teal leather, and the horizontal window blinds caught the afternoon light in a strange way on the floor.

The two took a seat across from each other, over a coffee table. Following other topics of conversation, Korra looked down. "Asami went missing." she said.

"Oh, Korra." said Su, instinctively grabbing Korra's hand. "I don't even know what to say." she paused. "Not to probe but, how?"

Korra took a deep breath and set herself upright in the chair. "Iroh asked me to meet him in the Spirit World. He told me it was urgent. He divulged to me that another Harmonic Convergence is coming — the day after tomorrow. I went to close the portal, but Vaatu — the spirit of darkness — is already impacting my ability to bend." she looked to her hands, opening and closing them slowly, noticing they were shaking.

She took a deep breath and again set her hands in her lap."When I went to close the portal, Vaatu was very strong. I tried to communicate telepathically with Asami, as I've done before, letting her know to stay away from the Spirit World." Korra took a deep breath and put her right fist to her mouth to calm herself. She continued, "But Vaatu must have interfered with the message. She tried to enter the portal as I was closing it. I — Su."

Korra's voice cracked. After a pause, she wept. Her eyes grew red with tears. Suyin waited patiently for her to finish crying, and said nothing. After a minute, Korra spoke again. "I think I hit her and I can't find her anywhere!"

Su looked down briefly and took a deep breath. "That's actually why I'm here." Her brow was furrowed as she tried to process the events for herself. "Wing's partner struck him with lightning. His name is Shokku, he works for Bataar Jr., up in Sky Castle Bravo, in the electromagnetics department. His work fascinated me." Suyin sighed and looked back to Korra, as though to change the subject in vain. "As you know, I had Varrick develop the magnetic levitation tram for Zaofu all those years ago. Suyin paused, and then leaned forward towards Korra. "What I'm going to say may shock you." she said in a low voice. "But Shokku claimed to have developed a way to bend the other elements using just firebending, and he showed it last night."

Korra's eyes shot open as her mind flashed to the man at the spirit portal, how he send out the magnetic forcefield, how he had grabbed the water from the air.

"I don't know if I can forgive him for this." Su shook her head, and then bowed her head to knead the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"I fought him." said Korra. "In the Spirit World."

Su looked up. "What?"

"I returned to the Spirit World this morning and I went to the Tree of Time." Korra thought briefly of Suyin kissing a young Baatar Sr. but moved along, "When I came out, Shokku was at the portal attacking spirits. He escaped."

There was a knock on the door.

"This room is occupied!" shouted Korra, standing up.

"President Bolin of the United Republic wishes to enter." said the Zaofu bodyguard through the door.

"Cah CAW!"

"Please, would you let him in?" pleaded the guard.

Korra opened the door.

"Korra! It's so good to see you!" said Bolin, hugging Korra. Suyin stood and joined in the hug. Bolin turned to Suyin and hugged her tight and tender.

"I am so sorry about your son, Mrs. Beifong." said Bolin in a low, earnest voice.

Su was silent.

"Wait." said Korra. "I actually need to talk to Bolin alone. It's top secret."

"Do you need my special services to have this room checked for recording equipment?" said Bolin. "You know, I can do that." Bolin raised his eyebrows. " —President."

"No." said Korra, firmly. "The security theater is unnecessary. I think just the two of us will work."

"I see." said Su, and she closed the door behind her.

Before Korra could start, Bolin spoke. "A fire-bending prodigy is on the loose, Harmonic Convergence is coming thousands of years ahead of schedule, a revolution in the Fire Nation is imminent, and a manned mission to the moon is tomorrow. Please tell me you have some good news."

Korra closed her eyes. "You need to cancel that rocket launch."

Bolin threw his arms up in the air. "Great! That isn't what I had in mind!"

"That rocket launch has to be shut down." Korra opened her eyes.

"Why Korra?" Bolin looked angry. "Why?"

"If it isn't, Vaatu will break free." she said calmly.

"And who told you that?"

"An Avatar from the future named Maitreya. I met him at the Tree of Time. I know it sounds crazy, but, I'm the Avatar."

"Korra." Bolin firmly grasped the back of the chair in front of him. "No. We can't stop this launch now. If we stop it, people will be furious and the Fire Nation will beat us to the Moon at a time when we need all the political legitimacy we can get." Bolin closed his eyes. "I am not making a decision with very real ramifications based on something you encountered in meditation."

"You don't trust me?" asked Korra.

"Korra — it's not that."

"What is it then?"

"I'm trying to protect the interests of the Free World." said Bolin, standing up straight.

"There won't be a Free World left to protect if that rocket launches!" said Korra, her voice rising and fists clenching. "How many times have I put myself in mortal danger to protect the world before? And what have I gotten for it? Three flying super forts over every major capital in the world. Now you're telling me that you need to protect the Free World? Why — how —" Korra's eyes widened suddenly, and she went for a chair.

Bolin looked concerned. "Korra?"

Korra heard Mittens humming in her back pocket, out of sight from Bolin. She took a deep breath. Then, she turned to Bolin. "If that rocket launches, it is going to destroy me, Republic City, and whatever else comes along. You know what Vaatu has done."

Bolin looked out to the Spirit Portal in the distance, and the old spirit vines remnants still tangled there. Then he looked back to Korra.

Bolin held her hand. "Korra. I apologize. Today — today's been rough. I would stop this in any other circumstances." he said. "But the political situation is really precarious. Between this new super-firebender and Harmonic Trine, Iroh the Second is about to become the new Fire Lord. Our intelligence suggests that Fire Minister Zhoza may be planning a coup to turn the Fire Nation into a — codename — Fire Union. Zhoza is eager to use anything as a pretense to boost his popularity at home: his winning the race to the Moon would give him the political capital necessary to exert more power in the Fire Nation. In the worst case scenario, we may not be able to get the Fire Nation Royal Family out in time."

Korra looked away from Bolin, shut her eyes, and said nothing.

"But you have my permission to go to the bridge of Sky Castle Bravo. I trust Bataar's judgement on this and will delegate this decision to him. The worst that Bataar Jr., can say is no."

 _— It's always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!_ said a memory of Asami in Korra's thoughts. And then it was gone.

§

The dark atrium of Avatar Aang Stupa let in little evening light. Venerable Jinora was glad as a novice nun presented her with a begging bowl. The food collected would go to a storehouse on Air Temple Island, for the purpose of feeding the homeless and the sick.

They passed a statue of Monk Gyatso, an airbending master of the past. They walked mindfully towards the exit, when a shiver ran down Jinora's back.

"What is it, Headmistress?" asked the nun.

"You go on ahead, Sister Ayya." said Jinora. "I sense that there is someone still here."

Now, unaccompanied in the dark atrium, Jinora heard a murmur's echo in the dark. Pules in the shadows punctuated each sentence the voice spoke. Closing her eyes, she perceived with the airbending power of clairaudience that there was a young man in the reliquary.


	7. Chapter Seven: Tales of Zaofu

Suyin Beifong was tired. Near Republic City Central Rail Terminal, she had gone to a bar where the interior smelled like sage smoke. She needed a place to be alone for a while. "Give me a Ba Sing Se on the rocks." she said. When she added that she had just returned from the hospital, the bartender poured it for free.

She looked blankly into the dingy mirror behind the bar. Her complexion had faded and her hair was whiter than before, such was time, she thought. She looked at the glass's base through the liquid and ice and noticed an inscription beneath the trademark.

"Let what is subject to destruction not be destroyed." she read, letting out a curt "Ha!" upon doing so. "That's funny." She seemed jaded like her sister.

"It's part of an old airbender charm." It was the Historian of Republic City that pulled up a stool besides her.

"Really? I haven't heard it before." she said, genuinely intrigued.

"It's rhetorical: 'Let what is subject to destruction not be destroyed'; no bender, monk, spirit, or Avatar can make that happen.' it's a kind of reminder to be mindful, as it were. That such a reminder is on a drinking glass is irony at its finest."

"I see."

"Say — well, I'll be. You're Suyin Beifong!" he exclaimed. "The Matriarch of the Metal Clan!"

"Charmed." said Suyin, taking a swig of her drink.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Madame."

"Please, call me Su."

"What's troubling you?" asked the Chief Historian. "I can see it in your eyes, something's troubling you."

Suyin looked at him as though from a far away place.

§

It was a spring day when Bataar Jr. returned to Zaofu from the first round of war tribunal hearings. The lotus petals were being put back on their hinges, and every now and again an airship would land from Ba Sing Se with delegates for the nascent Earth States.

"Hello, Mother." Bataar smiled to be home, but there was concern in his face as he saw Wing, Wei, and Huan seeming cross. It seemed that something had changed about Wing especially: he wore a large upside down triangle on his shirt.

"It's wonderful to have you home again!" declared Suyin with a warm embrace. "Now, it's going to take some time." she consoled. "But we'll get through this as a family."

At dinner, Wei stabbed his rice angrily with his chopsticks while scowling at Bataar Jr. His father sighed upon seeing him do so.

"Where's Opal?" chimed Bataar Jr. "Wasn't she supposed to come visit?"

"She's away." Wei was firm. "Repatriating people the Earth Empire held in prison camps."

"Oh — I see." replied Bataar Jr., looking down to his plate.

Huan went over to the radio, turned up the volume, and changed the channel.

 _This is Shiro Shinobi reporting live from Whaletail Island, where former Earth Empire Dictator Kuvira has been giving testimony regarding human rights abuses committed under her reign._

"Huan," said Suyin with concern, "I told you not to play the radio during dinner."

"But mom, I think our _brother_ needs to hear this." said Wing with a scowl.

Kuvira's voice came in through the radio. _I was wrong to attack the United Republic and Zaofu. As I have said throughout the course of these hearings, I am willing to accept whatever punishment the world sees fit._

Bataar sucked his teeth. "Alright, what is the meaning of this?"

"You had us thrown in jail!" shouted Huan, pointing his finger at Bataar.

"You betrayed us!" added Wei.

"You don't think I know that?" Bataar shouted. "I'm trying to set things right!"

"THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!" Wing's face was red and a vein ran through his temple.

At this, Bataar stood up, turned to Suyin. "Excuse me, Mother." and left the table in silence.

When the door shut quietly behind him, Suyin was the first to speak. "Do you have any idea how hard this is for him right now?" she was firm. "I'm trying to get our family back to normal!"

"Get back to normal?" Wing scoffed. "Mom, do you have any idea what kind of impact he's had on people's lives?"

§

The night before, Wing had walked down into the bar-lit alleyway, accompanied by Hong Li, who was looking over his shoulder. The bar at the alleyway's end was called the Earthfence Inn.

"Is it safe to come here?" he asked.

"Of course!" answered Wing. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"It's just —" started Hong Li, but then he looked out into the distance and seemed far away.

"Hey." said Wing, grabbing Hong Li by the shoulders. "Come back to me, alright?"

A large man dressed in long flowing robes and the head piece of the late Queen Hou-Ting descended down the alleyway. His face was painted thick with white cream and a red dot on each pale cheek. Large copper-seeming extensions adorned her fingers. "Out of my way, peasants!" she cried in a haughty, elevated voice that failed to cover the man behind the mask.

"Well would you look at that!" said an older man looking through the Inn's front window. He was beaming in excitement.

"Opulence! You own everything! Everything is yours!" cried someone behind him.

"It's just — after the camp." said Hong Li, his eyes wide with fear in the alleyway.

"This isn't the camp." said Wing. He spoke in as level a tone as he could muster. "Stand up. You are going to walk in there and nothing bad is going to happen to you. If it does, they will have to answer to me, my mother, and the Avatar."

But Hong Li crouched in the growing dark, and he let out a mewling croak.

§

"I had an Uncle who went to a reeducation camp." said Tahno, drinking a glass next to Suyin and the Historian. "I don't think he was gay — but he was a swampbender. He told me stories about the labor regiments — horrible."

"Bataar eventually gave more testimony at the hearings, while I tried to address the growing political strife in the Earth States." Suyin continued. "It was around that time, after Bataar began his prison sentence, that I received a letter from Fire Minister Kazai about a new cultural exchange program he wanted to pilot. I was intrigued, and Huan eagerly participated — I couldn't stop him even if I tried. Those were times I recall as being empty: it was only my husband, myself, and the twins. Opal visited every now and again, but as Wei had pointed out, she was often tending to matters elsewhere in the Earth States. It was during this time that the Firebender arrived."

§

"We're thrilled to have our son as part of this program!" said Mrs. Dian, who was sitting comfortably on the tram as it entered a metal tunnel.

"We're science professors at Fire Nation University." Mr. Dian seemed eager. "We specialize in physical sciences. We were intrigued to hear of your family's contribution to applied magnetic levitation."

"I've read your papers and they're absolutely marvelous!" Suyin was thrilled. "Your son is going to love it here. My husband designed this entire city ages ago, he's a genius."

"And your eldest son is quite the genius himself!" said Mr. Dian.

"Lou, not now!" Mrs. Dian said through a gritted smile as she jabbed him in the ribs.

Suyin looked aside and covered a curt cough as the tram exited the tunnel and was bathed in sunlight.

The summer light shined over the newest lotus petal, as Wing accompanied their guest to his room. "So, this is where you'll be staying." Wing said to Shokku, as he presented him with his room. It looked out over the green valley, the magnetic train line, and the farm fields that filled in where Kuvira's army had once stood several years before.

"Wow. This place is beautiful!" said Shokku adjusting his black rim glasses. He looked out in the distance description and spotted a mountain with a sheer cliff on one side. "And that's Mount Sumeru, isn't it?"

"Yep!" Wing smiled. "My brother and I used to go hiking there all the time. You can see all the way to the Si Wong Desert and Republic City from some spots."

"I'd love to go there sometime." said Shokku. But Wing said nothing as he eyed the wall of freshly hung mover posters that Shokku displayed: Ginger Bao in _Nuktuk: Hero of the South,_ Jo Dee Garland in _The Wizard of Zaofu_ , Beidi Dai-Wis in _Tomorrow Voyager,_ a signed photograph from Iknik Blackstone Varrick standing with Nuktuk. It was an anthology that seemed to go on forever. But in one corner, Wing noticed the cover of a magazine: the now renowned Republic Evening Post interview where Avatar Korra disclosed her relationship with Asami Sato of Future Industries. ' _I support equal rights regardless of sexual orientation and gender.'_ read the one caption in beautiful, black type.

"So you read The Article?" asked Wing.

Shokku turned around from the window, going from one view to another. He seemed surprised, as he walked towards the wall. "You could say that." he said, grinning.

"I _could_ say that." said Wing in mock-arrogance, raising his eyebrows and tucking his chin in slightly, standing squarely to Shokku.

Perhaps it was the Avatar's work, but as soon as Wing relaxed his chin, they seized each others shoulders and their mouths came together with a sharp intake of breath. Shokku felt Wing's big arms fold around him, all thought of the mover poster passing away — as Bataar Sr. looked through the door and saw a glimpse of his son's straining shoulders, and realizing with primal speed what has happening shut the door. Wing turned to see what it was, but Shokku turned his face back to him.

In the lounge, Mr. and Mrs. Dian were looking at a square box that had been delivered the day before yesterday from Future Industries. It had a silver screen and a series of antennae. Mrs. Dian at first was convinced it could be used for cooking food. "So they call this thing a longseer?" she said flatly, while examining the brick-like remote in her hands.

"Apparently the original name the ad agency had suggested was _television_." said Suyin. "But that's just ridiculous."

Bataar walked in through the door and was blushing. Suyin asked him what was wrong, but said nothing. That night, the return flight to the Fire Nation took Shokku's parents back home, and Bataar looked up at the bedroom ceiling while his wife, lying down beside him, was reading a study that Shokku's parents had published.

Bataar let out a sigh. "Honey, can we talk?"

Suyin looked up and set aside her half-moon reading glasses. "What happened?" said Suyin, discerning from his voice and over twenty five years of marriage that this was a non-emergency emergency along the lines of 'The radio went out; I can fix it but this is going to be a momentary inconvenience!'

"Well." he said, scratching behind his right ear. "Today, when you were meeting with the parents. I saw Wei — I mean, Wing — and the newcomer. They were doing the thing."

"Honey." said Suyin flatly, putting the book away from her face. "You know that after we housed Varrick that 'doing the thing' could mean anything."

Bataar Sr. put his hand to his forehead and pushed up his hair. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "They were kissing." he said calmly.

"What?" said Suyin, pulling herself upright. She was intrigued. "Well — that's — huh." she pondered, putting her hand to her chin and looking away, "Unexpected, I really was expecting Huan to be the gay one."

"What are we going to do?!" he pleaded, arms grasping the air.

"Honey, you're not actually offended by this are you —"

"No!" he exclaimed dismissively, and then pointing his hands left and right as though trying to find the best course of action. "What about etiquette? Do we keep going as we did before? Are there pronouns for this kind of thing?"

Suyin gingerly held her husband's hand. "We'll treat him like he did before. If he brings it up, we'll ask him what he prefers. Is that alright?"

Bataar turned to Suyin, nodded slowly and swallowed.

§

With the brisk smell of early autumn pines on the wind, the camping gear was all packed when Wing stepped into the Beifong Estate's front atrium. Suyin was lacing her metal hiking boots and sporting a helmet; Bataar Sr. carried the gear. Bataar Jr, a parolee, looking more gaunt than before, was running his finger along a red line drawn on a map — on the upper right corner were the words in red: Mount Sumeru Hiking Path.

"Wei! Are you all packed?" called Suyin up the stairs.

"Coming mom!" he called back.

"Wing." said Suyin softly, stepping to Wing and putting an arm on his shoulder. "I know that you and Bataar are still in a rough spot — but there's still good in him, and after three months in prison just look at him." she looked over her shoulder and seemed pitiful. "Is your friend Shokku coming along?" she added.

Wing took a deep inhalation and then said softly, looking over her shoulder. "Mom, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Alright." she said softly.

"Mom." Wing began. "I know that you're proud of me, and — I know when you were growing up you saw the world, you met many outcasts and people society did not — could not accept." he sighed, and Suyin looked on as he continued. "Shokku is more than just a friend, I want you to know that. I want you to know that I, your son, am gay." he paused, trying to find the best words to say next. "That is why I cannot forgive Bataar. Not yet." his eyes narrowed. "Not after what he engineered."

"Wing." Suyin said, and then there was silence save for the ruffling of hiking gear. "Here." she said at last. She lifted her arms and wrapped them around her son. "I'll always be proud of my little man."

Wing's arms body relaxed, as he reciprocated his mother's hug.

"Shokku's from a good family too!" Suyin added.

" _Mom!_ " Wing groaned. "We haven't been together _that_ long!"

"Your father said the same thing." said Suyin, smiling. "Who knows, maybe while you're at it you can get him to build you a city on the cheap!"

A guard entered the front door and declared, "A message for Bataar from the United Republic!"

Bataar Sr. gulped, "For me?" he said nervously. "Why?"

"No, Father." said Bataar Jr. shutting his eyes in annoyance. Bataar Jr turned slowly, as though an old man that the world had eroded away. He received the paper, went outside to the front steps, took a letter opener to the envelope labeled EYES ONLY, and began to read. His eyes lit up and opened wide. He stood up, turned to his mother and father, and then to Wing, and Wei who was entering the room with his gear.

"I am sorry." he said slowly. "But President Raiko has requested an audience with me. I can say no more."

"Bataar —" said Suyin, "We planned this hike for you. We haven't seen you in so long."

"I know, Mom." he said. "But all I can say is that — for the first time in over a year — I have a purpose." He went to leave.

"A purpose?" said Wing. He clenched his first and felt a shiver run through him. And the blood was rushing through his ears — and he thought of Hong Li in the alleyway — of the concentration camp survivors — of everything the Earth Empire had done — of Shokku.

Bataar Jr. stopped at the stair's top. He turned to Wing, his mouth weakly half open.

"You've learned _nothing_ , haven't you." Wing's face clenched as though he were a polar-bear dog baring its fangs.

"Wing." said Bataar Jr.

Wing stomped his right foot hard into the ground, and a long line of floor tile like a mole-burrow ran towards Bataar Jr.

Bataar waved his arms backwards and gasped as he tried to regain balance with the quivering earth beneath him, but he fell backwards down the short flight of stairs and onto the cobblestone path lined to its left with a white wall. The messenger stood back and gasped.

"Wing!" cried Suyin.

But Wing ran out to the front step and cut his arm across the sky. The abruptly risen earth launched Bataar like a ping pong ball into the white wall; his face smacked its stone surface with a crunch. Then he crumpled to the path and covered his nose. He let out a sharp hiss and a groan.

Wei and Bataar Sr. grabbed Wing from behind.

"WING, STOP!" cried Wei. "You know he can't bend!"

Bataar propped himself upright and staggered there. The messenger ran over to prop him up before he fell over again. There was blood on Bataar's hands. Bataar hanged forward, dazed and tired.

Wing let out a primal roar. Then he screamed "HOW DARE YOU!" His twin and father restrained him still. "I HAVE NO BROTHER!"

Bataar looked at his brother from the messenger's arms. His glasses were broken. His brother and his family were a blur to him through the fog of his seeing.

And then, Bataar's eyes welled with tears. He sobbed and turned to the messenger, who began the process of carrying him away.

The eldest Beifong son limped down the hill with the aid of another.

§

"We postponed the trip for the day, to let the tension die down." said Suyin, now addressing six people in the bar and looking at the bottom of her glass of Ba Sing Se on the rocks. "It was for the best." she said. "A thunderstorm came over the mountain that afternoon. But soon the autumn weather called us. Soon, Shokku would leave us. Huan had already returned, sporting a black barret, round sunglasses, and an fondness for free-form spoken poetry; but he wanted to stay home. It was for the best. We all needed time to reflect on what had happened."

§

"You really should have let it go." said Shokku, earnestly.

The tents around the nighttime campfire glowed orange in the night. Bataar Sr. was away, scratching his head as he tried to figure out the fireworks that he had ordered in a catalog. Suyin was reading the manual with a crank-start flashlight that was running low on juice. The stars were cast across the sky. A bird creed in trees further down the mountain.

"But — buddy." said Wing. "He was Kuvira's right hand. He was responsible for that whole operation. I can't begin to tell you what he did —"

Shokku turned to him. "Did you ever hear about what Fire Lord Zuko did to those responsible for the worst abuses the Fire Nation committed during the Hundred Years War?"

"No." said Wing. "I haven't."

"Well, he had a hearing about it, put them in jail, and stopped there." he said. "He of all people knew excessive punishment when he saw it. He did what he could do to get justice. Whatever was excessive, he put aside and sought leniency." Shokku paused. "Your brother's already in jail, and is now on parole. I actually talked to him briefly."

"You did?"

"Well, in passing." Shokku put his hands behind his head, and Wing had his arms wrapped around him. "I was telling him about a theory of electricity that my parents and I had worked on — anyway — I mentioned that we were, well, friends." Shokku adjusted his hands. "And, he seemed genuinely sad."

Wing pulled away from Shokku. He laid back and looked up to the tent's top canvass for a long time. Shokku exited the tent to stand under the clear September sky.

"Oh drat!" cried Suyin. "The flashlight's out."

"And I've had no luck with these fireworks!" said Bataar, setting aside the fireworks with a pout.

"Do you need my help?" asked Shokku, earnestly.

"Yes, be a dear and provide some light?" asked Suyin.

"Those fireworks won't work." said Shokku flatly. "The fuse is too damp and that model was recalled. They're from Cabbage Corp."

Bataar looked down to the box, and sighed. "That'll do it." he said.

"But what are we going to do?" said Suyin.

"That," said Shokku with confidence, "You can leave to me." a warm wind blew from the campfire. "If you'd like of course."

Suyin was surprised, and then looked to Bataar. "Say Wing, Wei, come outside!" she called.

Wing turned over in the tent and looked out to Shokku standing under the full moon. A cold wind blew from the top of Mount Sumeru behind them, adorned with a snowy diadem.

Wei put out the campfire. The Beifong Family, save Bataar Jr., Opal, and Huan, took a seat by the tents. Wing saw Shokku standing there, tall and bathed in cool blue light. A shiver ran down his spine. His hair stood on end.

It began with Shokku moving his right fingertips, as though he were pinching salt for a dish. A thin red line appeared in the sky and illuminated his hand. Then, suddenly, Shokku arched his arms and, rising them to the air, fire-like nymphs rose into the air like a startled swarm in hues of red and green and blue. Flicking his finger to the left, the butterflies morphed into a technicolor rope that formed a globe in the sky. Flicking his other finger to the right, as easily as one would retract and extend their elbow, the globe expanded into stardust and passed away into nothing.

Wing saw Shokku standing there, a firebending maestro, and a flame grew in his heart and rushed into his cheeks. The name, the form, and the two coming into contact, from which arose deep longing. There were his sideburns. Here, his black rim glasses. And within, that adorable genius — his buddy.

"Shokku." whispered Wing.

Shokku jabbed his fingers into the sky at the last, and there arose a din and green flames and showering sparks.

Instead of cheering, the Beifongs were stilled in their awe.

"That was incredible!" breathed Suyin, breaking the silence.

"It's my parents and teachers who taught me to do that." said Shokku, with a shrug and a smile. "But thank you."

As they all retired to their tents to dream of fireworks — Wing put his hand to Shokku's heart.

"Shokku?" he whispered. "Buddy?"

Shokku groggily opened his eyes. "What?" he groaned, having been asleep.

Without a thought, Wing kissed him on the lips.

"I love you." said Wing.

Shokku opened his eyes a little, and then smiled sleepily. "I think," he said "I've always known."

"Maybe someday we can get a place together?" Wing said. "One we can call our own?"

Shokku looked over Wing's shoulder for a bit thinking, and then looked back to Wing.

"Sounds perfect." he said.

Lying there, with Wing's falling asleep, Shokku's mind drifted and it was as though there appeared to him a white city in the clouds.

 _Many leagues away, Bataar Jr was in a United Republic bunker. He was looking over blueprints for a large floating mega-fortress. President Raiko sat across from him, fingers pensively interlaced.  
_

Everyday could be a cool breeze, everyday a wonderful adventure of new discovery — so Shokku thought.

 _'There will be one in each nation, you say?' asked Bataar Jr. A thick bandage on his nose, he had attributed it to an accident and said nothing further.  
_

 _'Excluding the Water Tribes and the Air Monasteries" said Raiko, 'Yes.'_

They would build their life together, and it would be happy.

 _'If you ask it of me, I will help create the greatest defense system the world will ever know.'_

It would be like this as long as they lived.

 _'Our engineers have given it the codename: Sky Castle Bravo.'_

§

And now there was a small crowd around Suyin as she concluded her story. "Bataar was released soon after our trip. He was named Sky Castle Bravo's Chief Engineer. He hired Shokku — for what purposes, I cannot say. The project was in the United Republic, so he went. Wing was devastated. I couldn't see him like that. I let him come here."

"Isn't Shokku the guy on all the posters now?" someone chimed in.

"And in the news?" added another.

"Yes." Suyin looked down and wiped a single tear from her eye. "Excuse me, friends. I have to go."

"We haven't asked too much of you, have we?" asked the Historian.

But Suyin said nothing as the door closed behind her with the ringing of a bell.

Upon returning to the hospital, a guard beckoned her to the phone, saying it was urgent. It was from Zaofu. Suyin's mind drifted to dark rain clouds drenching the farms and clanging on the lotus shells. The Zaofu Medical Corps informed her that a terrible storm had come their way. No plane could safely fly to Republic City as long as the storm lasted. Wing's best bet for treatment was to come back immediately by train.

Suyin reached into her back pocket with her free hand and flung open a map, examining the train lines closely. "Can you meet me midway at — New Gaipan? It should be the best halfway point by rail between Republic City and Zaofu." she paused, "Yes. Thank you, Doctor." she hung up the phone onto the receiver and looked through the glass window to Wing lying in a coma on his bed. Putting the map back into her pocket, she was sad, pensive, and then determined.

"Captain: get a shuttle ready." she said. "We're going home."


End file.
